


Polar Opposites

by theflyingace32



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Happy Kate Marsh, Hurt/Comfort, Mystery, No Rewind Powers, No Storm in Arcadia Bay, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-07 19:50:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 135,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11630682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theflyingace32/pseuds/theflyingace32
Summary: Ben Ferris is just your all-around popular guy, jock, and Vortex Club member at Blackwell Academy. While he thinks he has it all, he begins to see things differently after he meets Kate Marsh and saves her life. But as Ben becomes closer with Kate, his own friendship with Nathan Prescott begins to falter.DISCLAIMER: All Characters from Life is Strange belong to DONTNOD Entertainment. I own my OC Ben Ferris.





	1. Prologue

There was a reason why the fresh new faces of the Blackwell Bigfoots, Blackwell Academy's star football team, had been out on the field practicing on such a hot summer afternoon in late August. To be physically and mentally prepared for the grueling next several weeks of their athletic careers at Blackwell. By now, each and every person on the team should have been playing football long enough to know how much commitment and determination was expected of them. They had all willingly moved in on campus two weeks early for the social experiment that their coach called "football camp."

This was just another annual start of the year for John Ferris Jr., head Coach of the Bigfoots. Ferris had begun his career of coaching at Blackwell back in the days when Principal Ray Wells still had a full head of hair. It was a rocky start during his first few years as the football team had quite the pattern of "win some, lose some" seasons. In time, the players of the Bigfoots knew that they would have fans wanting to see them win, and so they made sure to get better on the field at practice every day so that their spectators wouldn't be disappointed.

Ferris was a large man who always stood tall with a barrel chest and towered over most of his players. He was a man of African American decent, had a goatee, and had lost most of his hair except for what remained on the sides of his head, though he could mostly be seen wearing a baseball cap whenever he was coaching. No one who was practicing on the field could see the exact look in his eyes as he was wearing a pair of performance sport sunglasses.

Coach Ferris had been setting some high expectations this year. Especially when he knew that there would be two games this season against the Bigfoots' rivals, the Sunnydale Razorbacks. The Bigfoots and Razorbacks had a long history that went all the way back to Ferris' days as a Bigfoot himself. They had been shut out by the Razorbacks at an away game last year, but Ferris knew that things would be different this year. Part of this feeling was due to the fact that it had been a tradition older than him that the Bigfoots never lost on their own field. The other part of it had to do with a new and bold player on the team this year. Someone whom he expected great things from the moment he discovered his acceptance into Blackwell. And as soon as he thought of that person, his eyes looked over to him on the field.

Ben Ferris, the "prodigal son of Blackwell", was what some people were beginning to call him when they found out about his acceptance into the academy. Ben couldn't believe what he had read when he first opened up his acceptance letter to Blackwell. He didn't know why he was so surprised that he got accepted into Blackwell in the first place. His dad was a respected and inspirational coach who led one of the most prestigious high school football teams in Oregon to victory on multiple occasions. He was basically getting free tuition as a perk of being the coaches' son anyway.

Ben bared some slight resemblance to his dad which many of the other teammates could see from the first day of camp. He was a bit lighter skinned though, with dark brown eyes and short jet black hair which resembled that of a buzz cut afro. The lower half of his face was distinguished by his square shaped chiseled jawline. Though whenever he smiled, he still had a baby face appearance about him. He was just a few inches below standing six feet tall and had a muscular athletic build that he had developed from spending his summer lifting weights, running, and working to the bone for his uncle's carpentry company. He worked hard to get his body in its new form just for this upcoming season.

"Alright Bigfoots," Coach Ferris shouted to get everyone's attention. "Let's line it up one last time if it's good."

He was of course referring to the passing drills his quarterbacks and wide receivers had been practicing for the past few days. Each pass was perfectly executed. The cooperation between the QBs and WRs made them look like they were part of an assembly line, how each player had so much coordination and trust with each other.

Ben was finally up and last in the line, ready to finish up the drill. He saw that his friend who he had made from the summer orientation, Zachary Riggins, would be his partnering QB. The two exchanged a quick head nod just before Ben was directed by his coach and father to start running down the field. Ben kept his eye on the ball the entire time as he watched Zach's arm go behind his head and shoot forward, flinging the ball as far away from him as he could. Eying it in the sky, Ben was tracing where it would end up descending to.

"Get there Ben, get there!" He said to himself as he had sprinted to where he would catch it.

Just at the right moment, he launched himself a few feet into the air with both arms fully extended outward and his hands forming a triangle shape. The ball was now in his grasp and he made his way down to the other side of the field.

"Good work, Ben." Those were the words that Ben could hear his dad say to him from where he was on the field. The whole team was then welcomed by the screeching sound of Coach Ferris's whistle.

"Circle it up boys." Coach Ferris directed all of his athletes to do. "Congratulations, everyone, you've all just survived football camp." An applause from every player soon followed.

"Make sure that you see me to grab your jerseys for the season before you take off." He mentioned. "And now, for the moment you've all been waiting these two weeks for. Your captains for this year."

Ben's heart started to drop when he heard those words come from his father. For some reason, it was just the only thing that he had looked forward to all throughout football camp and everyone knew that no one would find out who the captains would be until the very last day of camp.

"Since the first day that you all came here and walked onto this field, I've observed each and every one of you, in terms of commitment, leadership, and morale." Stated Ferris as he began preaching to his team. "Each year, I select two captains who I feel have the potential to not just represent the Bigfoots, but Blackwell as a whole. Which is why I have selected…"

The entire team was met with suspense, as each player hoped to have their five seconds of fame and be the newest football hero they felt the Bigfoots deserved.

"Our newest quarterback, Zach Riggins." Coach Ferris announced. The entire team had roared to the announcement of Zach's appointment as captain. Zach proudly walked up to his coach, taking the red jersey with its white embroidered numbers and a letter "C" to signify his status as a captain. The only question remaining now was who would fulfill the other half of leadership over the team.

"As for your second captain, who I'm certain will help do his fellow teammates well, please help me by welcoming up…"

Ben was beginning to freeze. What exactly would his dad think of him for the rest of the season after selecting someone other than him? He didn't think it could be that bad if he wasn't selected as a captain. He would still be loved and appreciated by his own father no matter what. Right?

"Ben Ferris." His father proudly announced. Ben still couldn't believe it as the moment of truth had hit him. He was brought back into reality as he heard the loud cheers from his teammates. Still trying to get out of his trance, one of his teammates gave him a light push to go up and accept the jersey from his father.

Ben was astonished at the sight of the jersey. He remembered his days as a little kid standing on the sidelines with his dad, watching the Bigfoots in action. Now, he was officially one himself as he had his own jersey. It had the same red and white color scheme as the one Zach had received, along with the embroidered "C" to show his captainship. He then saw his number that he would represent throughout the season. 17, one of the very few numbers that only a wide receiver could wear.

"Remember to ice anything that's sore this weekend and take care of your selves." Coach Ferris mentioned to everyone on the team. "And for God's sake, drink plenty of water before you get on the field. I don't want to have to send someone else to the ER again." He was referring to one of the players who had been dehydrated today at practice and began vomiting right after warming up.

"We start practice on this field every day at six pm sharp, starting on Monday." He told everyone. "Don't ever be late and get you stuff taken care of before or after practice. Is that clear?"

"Yes Coach." The entire team answered.

"Alright then, enjoy your weekend off and stay out of trouble." Ferris addressed as his last words before he dismissed the entire team.

Ben began to walk back to the boys locker room to put away all of his football gear and head back to his dorm room, which had all the AC he needed to rejuvenate from the heatwave. He put the brand new jersey in his red drawstring backpack along with his water bottle and began to make the trek back to his dorm.

While walking back, he could see that more students had been slowly trickling in onto campus. Most of them with cars out in the student parking lot carrying their personal belongings from home to their new rooms with the help of their parents. The heat was beginning to produce more sweat on Ben's face, so he had lifted up the bottom of his t-shirt he was wearing to wipe his face.

After he had finished wiping his face, he saw two girls just a few feet ahead of him, who looked like they were all moved in and decided to explore the campus that would be their new home as well. As he made eye contact with the two, Ben decided to greet them with a warm smile on his face instead of just staring awkwardly. The two girls simply smiled back just before they passed him. In actuality, the smile on Ben's face was more out of embarrassment than friendliness, as he realized that lifting up his shirt to wipe his face made him reveal his newly developed six pack to two strangers.

One of the girls he had just encountered had short brunette hair that ended right at her neck, with blue eyes and freckles on her face. She wore a pink t-shirt that had the name "Jane" written on it with a drawing of a white silhouetted doe next to it (clever wasn't it), along with a pair of jean cut off shorts and a pair of black low top Converse sneakers. She also had several rubber bracelets worn on her right wrist. The second girl was a bit paler skinned, with hazel eyes and long blonde hair, which was all piled up on top of her head and worn into a bun. She was wearing a pair of light blue jeans, with white sneakers, along with a white tank top that had a drawing of a dove on it. Ben also saw her wearing a necklace with a gold cross hanging down at her chest, so he figured that she must have been religious, not that it mattered to him though.

In just minutes, Ben was finally back at his dorm room, where he had everything he brought with him unpacked and set up after being on campus for two weeks. He took off his sweat drenched shirt and kicked off his sneakers, grabbed the towel hanging on the hook of his closet and walked down the hall to take a quick shower. Moments later, he walked back to his room feeling like a brand new person, changed into a new set of clothes and decided to get a good nap in before hanging out with some of his teammates or any of the other new arrivals.


	2. First Night on Campus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know present to you the first actual chapter of BFLKM. Just a little note that any horizontal lines indicate a transition to a new scene/setting. Hope you all enjoy!

"Ben!" Someone shouted on the other side of Ben's door followed by a series of loud knocks.

Ben had been disturbed from his peaceful slumber. His room was pitch black and he had no idea who was calling his name. He checked for the time on his phone he placed right next to him while he slept. It was 8:42 PM. Did he really just sleep for nearly five hours?

Ben once again heard the shouting voice calling him and he was more awake to recognize it as Zach's.

"It's open." Ben replied in a groggy voice.

"You better not be whackin off in there dude." Zach said jokingly as he slowly opened the door to Ben's room. He then flicked the light switch on to rid the room of darkness.

"Are you sleeping? This early on a Friday night?" Zach asked

"I was just getting up anyway since I had you as my alarm." Ben told his new co-captain sarcastically.

"Well then get dressed so we can split man. We've got some serious hell to raise tonight." Zach urged him.

"Oh, that's right. Do you even know where this Helix Club Party is anyway?" Ben asked.

"Vortex Club." Zach corrected him "And yeah, this chick named Juliet just messaged me the location." He said as he reassured Ben.

"Well, let's not waste any time then." said Ben as he changed into one of his V-neck t-shirts.

As the two left Ben's room and exited the boy's dorm building, they were reunited with several more members of the Bigfoots and began to make their way over to the party.

Once they finally got there, Ben was starting to wonder if they would even get in with a squad of all dudes and not one single girl. He had been to plenty of parties from when he attended his old high school before coming to Blackwell, so he knew the only way to get in was if you had an even girl to guy ratio.

"So you actually think we'll get in?" Ben brought up. He wasn't sure which one he was more concerned about: getting in, or the fact that this party was being held at the school's swimming pool of all places.

"Just relax bro." Said Logan Robertson, another player on the team, to Ben. "All we just have to do is say that were friends with Nathan." He mentioned

Ben was first in line out of all of his teammates and first to see if what Logan said would work. He stepped up and made eye contact with the guy standing at the door, who was probably five feet and three inches tall and looked nothing like a bouncer. Ben could easily push the guy aside if he wanted to.

"We're friends with Nathan." He said confidently. After all, the worst that could happen was if the guy didn't let them in. But to Ben's surprise, it had actually worked. The Vortex Club party bouncer had actually stepped to the side to let them in.

Ben had been awestruck by the sight of the room as he had first stepped in. It was so vibrant and filled with an atmosphere he had never seen before. Ben had heard just how filthy rich Nathan Prescott, the most popular kid at Blackwell, was. But to be able to afford a professional DJ, an abundant supply of alcohol and snacks for everyone, and even a so-called VIP area for fully fledged Vortex Club members, he had to be paying for all of this out of his family's pockets.

As Ben had looked around, still in amazement of how the school's swimming pool had been transformed into a night club venue, he was caught off guard by the sound of a familiar voice.

"Ben, hey." As he turned around to see who was calling him, it was Dana Ward, one of his best friends since kindergarten and the only other person he knew that would also be attending Blackwell.

"What's up Dana? Fancy running into you here." Ben said to her in joy to see her. He hadn't seen her all summer since he had been working and while he had football camp going on for the past two weeks, she had also moved in early, but for Cheer Camp. Dana was known for always being so outgoing and bubbly all of the time, which was why she was the model cheerleader.

"You look good." she said to him, insinuating on how they hadn't seen each other since their previous school year ended. "And bigger." She added acknowledging his new physique which she knew was for football.

"How's football going?" she asked knowing that was one of the reasons why he was at Blackwell.

"We just finished football camp today". Ben stated "And I'm one of the captains this year." He added

"Oh my God, no way." she said in amazement. She leaned over to hug Ben as she knew him long enough to know that someone like him deserved such a title.

"So you're joining the Vortex club right?" Dana asked him with excitement. "Please say yes!"

"I mean, if there's parties like this thrown every weekend by the richest kid in Arcadia Bay, count me in." Ben proudly stated.

"Yes! Parties are so your thing anyway" Dana replied with joy.

"Come on, this way." She demanded as she grabbed Ben's hand pulling him to the VIP section. "I'm sure Nathan and the other members have been dying to meet you. I told them all about you."

As they passed through the curtains with big letters painted on them that spelt "VIP", Ben was greeted by several new faces he had yet to meet. Among them was a guy with brown hair wearing a red bomber jacket with a white buttoned up shirt underneath, navy blue chinos, and a pair of brown loafers. This kid had some expensive taste in fashion and was approaching Ben to great him.

"You're Ben Ferris right?" he asked shaking Ben's hand.

"Yep, that's me. The only Ben Ferris here at Blackwell anyway." Ben stated with confidence.

"I like your style" he said as he chuckled at Ben's response "Name's Nathan Prescott." he said finally introducing himself.

"I'm sure you've heard that both of our dad's know each other". Nathan added to their conversation.

"Of course" Ben replied sharply "Your dad made that large donation to the Bigfoots just this summer. My dad used it to get new equipment for the whole team this year."

"Yeah well, the Prescott family is just the gift that keeps on giving, for most people that is." Nathan boasted.

"But enough talk about family members." He then interrupted. "Your cute friend Dana told me a lot about you, and I think you'd make a perfect addition to the Vortex Club." He said as if he was beginning to toss a sales pitch at Ben about the perks of joining. "So, are you in?" He firmly asked as he handed Ben a full red solo cup of beer poured from the keg in the room.

"Did you even have to ask? Of course I'm in bro." Said Ben with extreme enthusiasm.

"Now that's what I like to hear." Nathan replied with satisfaction, having another football player added to the exclusive group.

The two then clinked their solo cups of beer to resemble a toast to the new friendship that they had just formed.

"Hey, shots are on me" Nathan shouted to get everyone in the small VIP room's attention. They all began to circle around the counter as Nathan pulled out a large bottle of Ciroc.

Just as Ben made his way over to the counter, a girl with short cropped blonde hair walked to the counter, standing right next to Ben. She wore a pink long sleeve blouse with a yellow skirt and black nylons, complete with a pair of penny loafers. They were obviously the most expensive set of women's designer clothing Ben had ever seen. He started to think for a second that she and Nathan were probably related.

"The Vortex Club just takes some time getting used to." She said as she seemed like she was trying to start a small conversation with Ben. "Everyone here will be your best friend by the end of next week." She assured him.

"Well alright! At least I don't have to worry about being a complete loner these first few days." Ben joked to keep the conversation going with her.

The girl simply looked at him with her green eyes, giving him a sincere smile and facing the bar to accept her poured shot from Nathan.

Ben took his filled shot glass from the counter of the bar and once everyone had theirs in their hand, they lifted their shots in the air as if they were about to perform some kind of blood ritual practiced by a cult.

"To the Vortex Club!" Nathan shouted.

"To the Vortex Club!" Everyone else around the bar repeated. They then proceed to down their shots and hold them down while fighting the after-burn that came with it.

"I'm Ben, by the way." Ben said to the girl still standing next to him as he almost forgot to introduce himself.

"Victoria Chase." The girl said happily as she saw how Ben was trying to continue their conversation. "So Ben, you wanna, get out of here and head someplace else?" She asked nonchalantly

"Define 'someplace else'." he said, wanting to know what she had in mine.

She paused for a brief second and gave a little smirk just before answering Ben's question and finally saying,

"My room."

Ben knew that this was way too forward for a girl he had just met for only two minutes, but he asked himself how often this happens to students at Blackwell on the first weekend. So he decided to just go with it.

"Sounds like a plan" he said to her. Ben loved parties, but part of him wanted to leave for the sake of interacting with another student at Blackwell, who wasn't a sweaty gross football player that he had spent an entire two weeks on campus with.

Victoria had opened the door to her room with her key letting in Ben right after her.

"You've got quite the set up" Ben stated as he rotated around the center of her room observing everything. He had noticed her large white couch, plasma screen HD TV. And three large posters of herself hanging up on the wall next to her bed. One poster was a picture of Victoria in what looked like a track and field uniform, followed by one of her in a two piece swimsuit standing on a boardwalk at a beach, and the last was here in a winter pullover with her hands running through her short pixie haircut. Ben was starting to get the feeling that Victoria shouted "narcissist".

"Cool if I put on some music?" Victoria asked politely

"Sure, I don't mind" Ben replied to her as he was amazed by one poster in her room in particular. "When you said your last name was Chase back at the party, it took me a while to realize that you were related to the owners of the Chase Space."

"Oh yeah! They're my parents" She explained as she turned on her stereo to play some music, as the first song that came on was William Davies' All Eyes on Me. "They have some of the most famous galleries there. I'm hoping to submit one of my own works of art to them one day. Maybe a few other galleries around the round to."

"Well hey, maybe your work will make it into the art books some day too." Ben added to lift up her spirits.

"Tell me Ben, what's your fascination?" Victoria asked him with such curiosity.

"Football." Ben replied not knowing what else to say.

"No, not that." She said in an almost impatient manner. "What I mean is, what specific study is it that brought you here to Blackwell? You must have some kind of interest in the arts to be taking about my family's gallery."

"Acting." He stated timidly. He was surprised to have the confidence to tell her this, as it was something he didn't share with a lot of people.

"Oh, so you're an actor then?" Victoria asked as she smiled. "Have you ever performed?"

"I only had this one small part in a play in the third grade. Besides that, I've just read a couple of monologues from Shakespeare's works in school. I'm taking a Drama class here and might join the actual drama club. But I'd still have to see how much time football takes out of my schedule." Ben said as he divulged all of this to her.

"So have you ever done a kiss scene before?" Victoria asked him in somewhat of a very flirtatious tone.

Ben was confused by her question. He had already told her that he only performed once in his entire life. "No, I said was only in just one…"

As he turned to face Victoria to finish his sentence, he was unable to as her lips ended up meeting his. She placed one of her hands on the back of Ben's head, making sure that he couldn't back away. She started to advance on him even more, having her tongue reach into his mouth and meet his. This girl had great taste in fashion and art. It was no question that she knew how to French kiss too.

Ben didn't even pull away from her once. He felt that he didn't really have a reason to though. It wasn't like he had a girlfriend that he was cheating on, or that Victoria had drugged him at the party and lured him back to her room to have her way with him. Everything felt completely normal about this moment. For Ben, he felt that he may have actually had a lot to look forward to here at Blackwell just by how his first night was going right now. He and Victoria's lips still did not separate from each other and all of a sudden, he started to feel something below his head.

It was Victoria's hand underneath his shirt, feeling up his rippled abs and slowly working its way up to grasp his pectorals. When she had had her fun there, she brought both of her hands down to start unbuckling Ben's belt. He could tell that she was still drunk as she was struggling to get his belt off, so he decided to just do it himself. Ben was clearly having some fun himself, and he knew that it was about to be an even longer night than he had expected.


	3. Chasing Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. This chapter still has to do with Ben, but I promise you'll be seeing more of Kate very soon. Just a little note that any of the text that's bold and italicized means that it is a text message, email, or anything that the character is meant to read. Enjoy!

Monday just couldn't wait to come. It was officially the first day of classes for everyone at Blackwell. All of the students didn't have their first class until 10 am. One of the many benefits of attending a private academy. Students often took advantage of this to wake up early and get some studying in, grab some breakfast at the Two Whales diner, or simply sleep in, like Ben was doing.

Ben was completely wrecked after two nights of partying hard as the Vortex Club had thrown down a second night in a row. Along with that, he couldn't really sleep due to the excitement of starting his first day of school. His alarm went off again to wake him before he would hit the snooze button. He checked his phone to see that it was 8:30 am. He had an hour and a half to shower, get dressed, grab a bite to eat, and head to his first class of the day.

After finally getting up, he quickly made up his bed and figured that he could use some music to get him in the mood. He walked over to his bureau which had a wood polished vinyl record player sitting on top of it. It belonged to his mother when she was his age and given to him once he got older and she discovered that he had a passion for music.

Ben had all of his mother's old albums that she loved to listen to, and all of them were now in his possession. The only thing that he couldn't decide on at the moment was what to listen to. He flipped through all of the albums on his shelf to see what he was in the mood for.  _Electric Light Orchestra, The Jackson 5, Led Zeppelin, Earth, Wind, & Fire, The Beetles_. After nearly two minutes of searching, he finally found an album that would that would satisfy him,  _Redbone_.

"It might be older than me, but it's still a winner." Ben said to himself.

He began to slip the vinyl record out of the sleeve of its album cover, blew off the dust on the surface of the record and placed it on top of the turntable. He then lifted to the tone arm of the player and moved it towards the record. All he had to do was wait a few seconds for music to project from it and he could start grooving in his room. It wasn't long before he could hear the start of his favorite song by the iconic Native American rock band,  _Come and Get Your Love_.

Ben was immediately lip synching and dancing, all while in the privacy of his own room. It was a bit too early to be blasting music on Monday morning as Ben got a couple complaints from his fellow neighbors.

"Hey, turn that down!" Ben heard from Nathan, who lived right next door to him.

It wasn't long until the song had come to an end, which reminded Ben that he shouldn't waste any more time and take a shower to help him wake up. Though his little jam session had mostly done that for him already. He grabbed his shower caddy, which had all of his essential toiletries and made his way down to the boys' bathroom.

As he walked into the bathroom, he saw an unoccupied sink, which he made his way over to in order to brush his teeth. Just a few seconds later, Ben was greeted by his teammates, Zach and Logan, who had entered the bathroom shortly after him.

"Dude what is your secret? You are ripped!" Logan said to Ben, referring to his muscular build, while playfully punching his bicep.

"What can I say?" Ben asked wittingly. "It's part of the Ferris family genes." He said.

"Well in that case, I bet all the ladies were swooning over you're old man back when he was our age." Logan stated.

"Speaking of which," Zach added as he jumped into the conversation. "We saw you leaving the party Friday and Saturday night with Victoria."

"Yeah, what's that all about?" Logan asked with interest.

"Oh you know, she just wanted to invite me back to her room for wine and discuss our tastes in art." Ben replied to both of them with sarcasm.

"Bullshit, dude." Logan scoffed, calling Ben out on his lie.

"Come on bro, give us the details on what she's like" Zach pleaded as he felt Ben was holding out on them. "Is she a freak? She has to be with that haircut." He senselessly theorized.

"Better yet, what kind of crazy shit is she into? You two end up sixty-nining on the first night?" He asked mockingly.

"Tell you what guys," Ben calmly said as he felt that his conversation with the two was quickly becoming idiotic. "There's nothing serious going on between me and Vic anyway, so you can always go up to room 221 and play twenty questions with her yourself." He then proceeded to step into the empty shower and close the curtain behind him, blocking his view of dumb and dumber.

"Vic?" Zach stated, curiously stating Ben's preference to use a nickname for Victoria.

"He's definitely still tapping that bro." Logan said to Zach as he restrained himself from snickering.

After Ben jumped out of the shower. He walked back into the room to dry himself off and quickly changed into a t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and put on his favorite pair of black high top  _Converses_ , similar to the ones he had seen the brown haired girl wearing.

After grabbing his backpack hanging on the back rest of his chair, he checked his phone to see that he had two unread messages.

The first was from Victoria which had read:

**_Hey! This weekend was soooo much fun. You're also a great time to be around with. Don't know if we have any classes together but we'll definitely see each other around this week. TTYL :)_ **

Ben didn't even know what to think when he saw this. He didn't mind hanging out with Victoria, but he had told himself that what happened between them on Friday night was just a one-time thing. The next night they just hung out in her room again and smoked some bud they both bought off of Nathan, using her "peace pipe".

While the two of them were both stoned out their minds they began to converse about their lives to know more about each other. Ben just felt that Victoria was a bit too dramatic about everything, and it didn't seem like it was the weed talking either. Though he did enjoy their little "toke sesh", after having passed a mandatory drug test before football started.

To Ben, smoking with another person again had reminded him of his summers he spent in Arcadia Bay where he would invite his friend, Chloe Price over to chill out and get high together. He and Chloe weren't really close or anything. He had met her a few years back at a party that another friend in Arcadia Bay was throwing. They ended meeting while smoking outside of the house and kept in touch ever since. Chloe would mostly come over to Ben's house whenever his dad wasn't around either to medicate, or when she needed to get away from her strict, no-nonsense step-father, who also happened to be a security guard at Blackwell.

Ben simply replied to the text by saying:

**_Yeah! It was definitely a blast hanging with you and the other new Vortex Club members. Talk soon!_ **

Ben then looked at the second text which happened to be from Nathan. It read:

**_Yo Big Ben, what's up? Just picked up an application in the hallway for class elections. I'm running for class president and I think you'd be the perfect running mate for VP. The Vortex Club is gonna run shit here at Blackwell!_ **

Ben didn't seem opposed to the idea of running alongside Nathan. He seemed like an alright dude from the first weekend. He even supplied Ben with the bud he used to smoke with Victoria. Plus he figured that there would be no harm in getting involved in a club or two at Blackwell, as long as it didn't conflict with football.

Ben sent a reply to the message which said:

**_Hell yeah guy! I'm down to run with you, it'll be an awesome year if we get elected too. Let's make Blackwell great again lol_ **

In just seconds he saw a text back from Nate that read:

**_Word! I already put your name down on the application anyway. We even got Hayden as secretary, Victoria as treasurer, and Taylor and Courtney as our two required senators. Time to fuck shit up! #PrescottFerris2013_ **

Ben was confused as to why Nathan was getting so riled up about a class election. And did he seriously just make that a hashtag? Ben didn't think that much of it and left his dorm to grab a quick bite from the school's cafeteria and head to his first class.

Ben was always the type to show up to class a couple days early on the first day of school, mainly so he wouldn't get lost trying to find the room. He took a banana and a muffin from the café for the go and proceeded to make his way to his first class, The Art of Drama _._

Ben made sure to register for this class when he had first realized over the summer that he wanted to act. The only thing was that he wasn't very confident telling people about his dreams to pursue an acting career. In fact, he felt embarrassed. Victoria was the only person so far at Blackwell that he had mentioned it to. He hadn't shared his dream with any of his fellow teammates, and he sure didn't tell his dad about it either. His father admired Ben for being an athlete his entire life and the two had spent a whole week together during the summer visiting colleges and universities with the best D1 football teams.

Ben walked into the school auditorium, where the class was held and was greeted by a woman from the front of the room near the stage. She appeared to be young, looking around the age of her early 30s. She had long brunette hair which was tied into a ponytail, and was wearing a red blouse, with black slacks and pumps, along with a pair of thick black rimmed glasses. This was Ben's teacher Ms. O'Dea.

Ben had looked up all of his teachers on "Rate My Professors" to find out how tough each of his classes would be and how much homework he would get. From doing his research, he learned that Ms. O'Dea had studied at Carnegie Mellon, which had one of the best drama programs in the country, and obtained her Masters in Theatre. She had also performed in numerous Broadway plays in New York City and London, and even starred in a couple of Independent films. Now she was back in her native home of Arcadia Bay and working fulltime at Blackwell to help the younger generation find a passion for acting. Though Ben felt that he already had this passion before he even signed up for the class.

"Hi there," She said in a cheerful squeaky voice. "You must be…" She asked trying to guess Ben's name.

"Ben." He answered.

"Well hello Ben, and welcome." She said in the most approachable manner. "Just find a seat anywhere in the first row, and we'll get started soon." She addressed handing him a syllabus.

He then took a seat next to another student, who was on his phone waiting for the class to start, and flipped through the syllabus. Once a couple more students managed to successfully find their way to the class, Ms. O'Dea went up a short set of stairs leading up to the stage of the auditorium and walked toward the front center of it to begin speaking to the class of thirteen students.

"Hello everyone, and welcome to The Art of Drama." She shouted to make her entrance. "Some of you are taking this class that I'm teaching for the sole purpose of completing one of your art electives. Some of you are also here because you desire to learn how to become actors yourselves." She declared to her class "No matter what your reason is, you will learn so much in this course, from acting to improvisation and playwriting."

Ben was already looking forward to this class just from listening to Ms. O'Dea's spiel that she was giving. He then found some slight disappointment afterwards from a piece of news that she gave next.

"I also want to let each of you know that next week Tuesday at 6 PM, we will be having auditions for our fall production which this year will be…"

Ms. O'Dea let out a small pause before informing her class on what the play was going to be, which she then revealed as…

"The Wizard of Oz." She shouted in probably the most cheerful voice Ben had ever heard from any teacher he had in his entire life.

However, this only reminded Ben that he would not be able to make it to the audition since it was taking place the same time football practice would start.

"So these first two days, we will be playing a couple of name and word association games to help us know each other better, since fellow actors require trust and good acquaintance to work with each other". She told her class.

"Oh and one more thing before we get started," She said as she briefly stopped her speech again "Unlike most of your teachers, please feel free to refer to me as Sarah instead of Ms. O'Dea. We're all actors in here after all." She added.

Class had finally ended as there was the sound of a loud and unpleasant ringing bell directing everyone to go to their next class.

"Enjoy the rest of your day everyone, and remember to check the syllabus for your first homework assignment that's due when we meet again on Wednesday". Ms. O'Dea, or Sarah as she preferred, urged to her students.

Ben was already liking Sarah's style. She had seemed really laid back for a teacher, something he wasn't expecting at a private academy. He looked at his schedule that he took a picture of on his phone to see what and where his next class would be. It was Video Production and the instructor of the class on his schedule was known as Mark Jefferson.

Ben walked into the computer lab where his Video Production class was held, not only to see his teacher was not in the room, but to also discover that his pal Zach was in the class with him. At least he knew who would choose to work with if partners were ever required for a project.

Ben sat at the computer next to the one Zach sat at and the two exchanged a conversation before class started.

"How was your first class?" Ben asked

"Eh, it was P.E. so nothing I couldn't handle" Zach boasted. "How bout you?" He asked Ben.

"Drama class. My teacher's apparently a former actress, who came back here to teach kids how to act." He explained. "Plus, she's a total smoke show." He added.

"Well, I would hope so. You did just say that she was an actress" Zach said as if the two things were of course supposed to go together. "So you trying to get laid backstage or something?" Zach joked.

"Heh, funny but no thanks. I'm not trying to get someone fired from here." Ben argued.

"Relax, dude. You're legal age of consent anyway. All you gotta do is not brag about it to anyone, except for all of the Bigfoots." Zach stated as he laughed.

"Fuck you, dude." Ben replied, laughing at Zach's advice. He was beginning to get the strange feeling that Zach and Logan were getting a little too curious about his own sex life.

Moments later, a tall man with an average build walked into the room. He was wearing blue jeans with black loafers, a white dress shirt, with the top two buttons undone, and a black blazer. He had brown eyes and brown hair that was worn in a choppy messy style and a light trendy beard. He also wore a pair of thick black and white framed glasses. Ben had thought that this guy was lost trying to find his way an art convention for hipsters. But without a doubt, this man was in fact Mark Jefferson.

"Good morning, everyone! Please a find an empty computer to sit at as you walk in." said Mr. Jefferson as he was beginning class. "Welcome to Video Production, My name is Mark Jefferson and I'll be instructing this course." He stated.

"Throughout our time together, you'll learn all of the fundamentals necessary to help you create great quality videos and walk out of this room on the very last day as professional videographers." He confidently stated.

Ben also did some digging on Jefferson as well. But instead of going on Rate my Professor he simply just had to do a Google search on the guy, and he'd find a plethora of results. He was apparently a famous photographer who was well known across the United States and made his big break in the '90s.

While he was a photographer, part of why he was teaching a class on making videos was because for a certain period in his life, he had worked as a cinematographer alongside some of the most famous movie producers and filmmakers. Some just to name a few were James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, and even Quentin Tarantino. This was Ben's main reason for signing up for the class. He figured that Jefferson had met many more household names of the film industry and was hoping to do a little bit of networking with him as the two got to know each other more throughout the school year.

"I want all of you to know that you have an assignment due for class next week." Mr. Jefferson mentioned. The entire class then groaned in despair of having homework assigned on the first day of school.

"Don't fret yet, everyone. There's a reason why I'm giving you a week in advance to do it." He stated to relieve everyone. "For your first assignment, you'll be creating a short video that captures any of the sights here on campus or Arcadia Bay as a whole. You will however have to include the camera angles and visual effects that we'll be taking about during the next two days in class." Jefferson then implored.

After spending the remainder of the class going over the course syllabus and the students asking Mr. Jefferson to tell them stories about his many adventures in his career. The same ear wrenching bell returned to dismiss the class.

Ben then walked to his locker to put away the books he would no longer need for his next class. As he looked down the hall from his left side, he had seen the same blonde haired girl whom he briefly ran into on that Friday when other students had been moving in. She was wearing the same necklace with the gold cross again. However, her outfit was slightly different from the last time Ben saw her. She was wearing a white buttoned up blouse with a charcoal colored cardigan over it, along with a gray skirt ending at her thighs, a pair of white sneakers, and a handbag she wore over her left shoulder. Her hair was worn into the same style bun just like the first time Ben saw her.

She was carrying a couple of large posters that she had made and looked as if she was putting one of them up on the bulletin board in the hallway. Ben couldn't see what it had said but as she was still putting it up, Victoria and two other girls had passed by looking at what the girl was hanging up. They simply reacted by laughing at the poster. They then briefly teased her for what she was doing and made their way towards Ben.

"Hey Ben." Victoria said as she greeted him.

"What's up?" He said wondering what she and her friends were up to.

"We're heading to the school café to grab some lunch right now. Wanna come?" She asked politely.

"Sure, I'll meet you ladies there. I just gotta... take care of something real quick." Ben told her.

"Yeah, take time." She said sincerely. "We'll save you a seat for when you get there."

"Thanks, Victoria." He replied. He was hungry, but for the moment, he was more interested in finding out what it was that the cross necklace bearing girl had put up on the bulletin board. And what exactly it was that resulted in her being made fun of by Victoria and her friends.

"Hey, Kate." Ben heard someone shout from behind him. He turned around to see that it was the same brunette haired girl that was with the blonde, walking around campus on move-in day. She was making her way towards Kate. Now he definitely knew that these two were friends.

"Are you ready?" the brunette asked her friend patiently.

"Yes, I'm all set now Max. Thanks for waiting for me." the girl named Kate said.

"No problem," Max said. "Wanna go grab lunch now?"

"Oh, yes. I'm starving." Kate mentioned.

As the two girls were walking away, Ben now had the chance to make his way over to the bulletin board. It was covered with posters regarding meetings for clubs, auditions for the play that Sarah had mentioned in class, missing item flyers, and finally the red and white poster that Kate had put up which read:

 _ **Keep Calm and Practice Abstinence** , _with a picture of a crown above those words, followed by a passage that was from the bible:

**_"_ _For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication." 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4_ **

**_For more information contact Kate Marsh via student email._ **

It was simply just another one of those "Keep Calm" mottoes that you would see on a girl's coffee mug or on a rug on the floor of her room. Ben really couldn't see what the big deal about it was. Sure not everyone would agree with her but it wasn't like everyone was being forced to comply with what the poster was saying. After all, everyone does have their right to an opinion on things in school, even it does suggest what your sex life should be like.

Ben walked away from the bulletin board, wondering if he would have class with this Kate Marsh girl, and if so, what she would be like. Was she the kind of person to preach to people's faces about her beliefs and that they needed to give their hearts to Christ. He wouldn't know until he had actually seen it for himself. All he had hoped for was that no matter what, people would just keep an open mind of the things she said or believed in, and that no one would try to make her life a living hell because of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think so far. In the next chapter, things will fast forward to the events of the game and we'll be seeing things through Kate's POV for a change. Stay tuned for chapter 3!


	4. Damnation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things now flash-forward to the week where the main events of the game takes place. And just how exactly does one day in the life of Kate Marsh go? Find out in our this newest chapter.

**_Keep Calm and Have Sex!_ **

That was the derogatory message that Kate Marsh had seen vandalized on her poster that was put up on the school's bulletin board, which she made as part of her campaign to advocate for abstinence. Someone had crossed out the words "Practice Abstinence", and replaced them with "Have Sex" followed by three exclamation marks. The poster was also riddled with cartoon drawings of penises and someone even had the nerve to tape a condom to the poster. The worst part was that all of the markings were made with a black permanent marker, so there was no way of getting it out.

Kate was still appalled at what she had been witnessing before her own eyes. It was just a little over a month since she had made those posters and put them all over campus. In the main building where classes were held, the boys and girls dormitory floors, the locker rooms. She didn't want to look for those posters in any of the other locations as she only feared of what kind of vulgarities would be written on them. If she had known that this was the kind of backlash that she would get, she would have never even put her contact information on those posters. Thankfully, no one had dared to prank call her, harass, or threaten her. As Kate finally decided to take action and went to take down the defaced poster, she was met with a much more pressing matter.

"Dude, look!" She could hear one boy saying behind her.

"Is that her?" Another guy was asking.

"Yeah, that's definitely her. The wild church girl." Someone else had said.

"' _Wild church girl_ '?" Kate immediately thought to herself in such concern and confusion. What exactly could those boys be taking about?

Kate turned around to face the boys talking behind her back. She didn't want to know what they were talking about and if it actually had to do with her. At the same time she needed to know as she was wondering if it possibly had some connection to this whole incident with her posters.

"What are you talking about?" She asked softly while having an amount of fear in her voice.

"Oh come on. Don't act like you don't know. We we're all there Friday night and saw it for ourselves."

"And you sure knew how to give my friend some lip service on Friday." Another one of the boys added.

"Yeah, they should have really named that video 'seven minutes in heaven'." The other boy jumped in as he burst out laughing afterwards.

"Video?" Kate's heart had nearly stopped as she heard that word. She dropped the poster in her hand and immediately left the main building, scurrying back to her dorm room.

* * *

While walking to her dorm room, she was met by frequent stares from fellow students and could hear whispers of falsities that all centered around her.

"I knew she was faking that whole 'church girl' persona this whole time."

"All those years of staying abstinent and she finally broke."

"Who knew that religious girls could be such freaks at parties?"

Kate couldn't take anymore this. She needed to figure out what this was all about. As soon as she made it to her dorm, she ran up the stairs to reach the second floor and down the hall to make it to her room. She was rudely encountered by a horrifying message on the white slate next to her room's door which read:

**_Will Bang 4 Jesus_ **

Kate had felt that she was in a nightmare but every moment of it was actually real.

She sat down in her chair by the desk in her room, placing both of her hands on her head and trying to piece together what had happened the previous weekend.

It was a Friday night and Kate had been met with the dilemma of whether she should attend the Vortex Club Party that night, with the benefit of her stepping out of her comfort zone and making new friends, or stay in her dorm room and continue to live a life of being reserved.

She had chosen the first option and began to walk to the party by herself. Upon arriving, she had seen a couple of familiar faces from her classes but barely knew anyone in actuality that was there. She had at one point seen Victoria Chase, who would frequently taunt her in and outside of class.

Kate tried her best to avoid making eye contact with Victoria's cold gaze, but the "queen bee" rich girl still made a big deal of it by getting the attention of both her best friends, Taylor Christensen and Courtney Wagner, and showing them that the sweet and innocent Christian girl of all people was at a Vortex Club Party. They were beginning to think that it was the end of the world.

Kate's family never drank alcohol back at home and aside from having a sip of wine at church for communion, she had been sober her whole life. However, she was still getting over the stressful week she had just completed, having three exams and four papers. She told herself that she would just have one cup of wine for the night and that would be it.

She walked around the swimming pool transformed night club area, hoping to run into someone else she would know that lived on her floor in her dorm. However she found it difficult and overwhelming to navigate through such a large crowd.

After she had taken a sip from her cup of red wine, she noticed that it had a funny after taste about it. Before she knew it her vision slowly started to get blurry and her hearing became a bit more muffled. The one thing she prayed that wouldn't happen to her at the party ended up actually occurring. She had been drugged.

Not knowing what to do, the last thing Kate remembered was trying to find a way out of the place and hearing a voice in her ear that said "Kate? It's me Nathan. Let me help you."

The rest of Kate's memory had continued when she had woken up hours later, outside of her own dorm room. She was still fully clothed and there were no signs that she had been violated. She did however, feel a sharp pain in her neck as if she had been stung by a wasp. So the real question was, did Nathan Prescott, whom she seemed to have run into, help her or hurt her?

She had to find out the truth about what else had occurred that night. What had happened in that missing gap of time from blacking out at the party to waking up outside of her own room? Curiosity got the best of her and she turned on her laptop and went on the internet. As soon as she logged onto her Facebook, she saw an unchecked notification.

"Victoria Maribeth Chase tagged you in a link." the notification read. Kate's heart was pounding upon reading this. But she needed to see this so called video people talked about and see exactly what all of this hysteria was about. Why had she been receiving so many stares and gossiping behind her back today? She clicked on the thumbnail of the YouTube video that had posted on her wall by Victoria. In mere seconds, Kate began to experience the very horror that she had been a part of.

The video was titled  _Kate at the Vortex Club_. It was obvious that someone had filmed it on their phone due to the vertical angle that it was shot in. It had started off with Kate downing the rest of her drink in her hand as numerous voices chanted "chug" repeatedly. The video then cut to footage of her grabbing several strangers, all boys who she had never even talked to during her time at Blackwell so far, she had been caressing them or groping him. Kate couldn't believe what she was seeing. She wanted to throw up in her mouth in reaction to all of this. What had possessed her to behave in such a manner? Finally the last few minutes of the video had shown her kissing those same strangers. She had sat on one of the boys' lap just making with him for what seemed like forever. It had almost looked like she was trying not to choke on his tongue and she could hear the laughter of several people behind the camera. Soon the other boys that were seen earlier in the video began lining up, each to have their own turn making out with her.

Kate's mind was still running with different emotions and questions. And if that wasn't enough she had remembered the letter from her dear Auntie Marsh that she picked up from her mailbox today. Perhaps it was something that could help her restore her faith and inspire her to keep fighting. Upon opening the letter and beginning to read the first few words, Kate only felt sick to her stomach.

_Dear Katie,_

_No spirit or devil could have prepared me for what you have done in that videotape._

_And like a jezebel you released your harlot image before God's eye._

_I will pray with my church for your soul to be saved from Eternal Hellfire._

_Auntie Marsh_

Tears began to stream down from Kate's eyes. What else could she do besides cry during a dark time like this? What did she even do to deserve any of this in the first place? She read her Bible, she was devoted to her faith, she led the Meals on Wheels program at Blackwell, and she was even in charge of the Bible Study Club. So why was this happening to her? Was she being punished by God?

Kate looked up at her clock on her wall to see that her Art of Photography class that she had with Mr. Jefferson was starting soon. She didn't want to be late, and she didn't want anyone to see that she had been crying either. After going through half of the box of Kleenex tissues in her room, she then washed her face in the girl's bathroom and began to walk to class.

* * *

Kate could barely concentrate in class. She had been constantly spacing out, still worrying what everyone was thinking of her. Her classmates, her friends, her family. She had already been disowned by her own aunt. What if her younger sisters had seen the video too and how would she explain it to them? How would her church react if they had watched it? While everyone was taking notes of Mr. Jefferson's lecture, Kate had been drawing pictures in her notepad that were unsettling for even someone of her demeanor. Doodles that depicted an angel hanging from a noose and another falling into a pit of fire. There were also several different words that she wrote: "waste, slut, and sinner."

Kate began to look up to make it seem like she was paying attention to lecture until moments later, as soon as Jefferson had turned his back while talking, Taylor Christensen had chucked a crumpled up paper ball across the room, hitting Kate in the face. Kate had flinched upon being hit didn't overreact to it as she wasn't one to make a scene about things. Class was eventually dismissed following Jefferson stressing to his students to submit their entries for the "Everyday Heroes Photo Contest" if they didn't yet. As everyone had already gotten up and took off to go on about their lives, Kate did not. She did not have the energy to move. In fact, she just wanted to be done with this. The humiliation, the harassment, the shaming. All of it had broken her and so she sat there, a fallen angel, until she had been approached by a true friend.

"Hi Kate." Max greeted as she stood at Kate's table.

"Oh, hi Max." Kate replied in a voice that wasn't as cheerful as usual.

"You seem quiet today." Max acknowledged.

"Just thinking too much…" Kate simply expressed.

"I hear that. Wanna go grab a cup o'tea and bitch about life?" Max asked.

"Thanks, but not today. I have to go over homework". Kate told Max as she tried to come up with an excuse for not feeling so social with her best friend.

"No worries. Let's hang later." Max stated.

"Sure." Kate replied.

Kate felt bad about blowing off Max like that. She felt even worse for lying to her. Max was her friend, but for some reason, Kate just didn't feel comfortable telling her what was really wrong. She had already been through enough today. All she just wanted to do was go back to her room and cry herself to sleep.

When she arrived back to her dorm she checked her mailbox once more to see that she received a post card from her father back at home. After reading the letter containing Auntie Marsh's harsh words, she decided to wait until she went up to her room to read it. The postcard had a photograph of several wax candles in the dark. She slowly flipped over the back to see what message had been written for her. Instead of being disowned by her father, he left her some kind words of encouragement which had read:

_And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not._

_—_ _John 1:5_

_Katie, you'll always be my brightest light against the dark._

_hugs n' love_

_Pop_

Kate couldn't help but shed a few tears once more after seeing this. She felt that she had brought so much shame to the Marsh family name after everything that had happened. She sat in her room and began to cry more. It was only Monday and she dealt with so much aftermath from the Vortex Club party incident. How would she make it through the end of the week like this? She was slowly becoming depressed and her faith had been weakened. She was wondering if there would be any use in praying at this point. She didn't even want a miracle. All she really wanted right now was someone who could come to her rescue and protect her from the bullies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Kate! Hopefully things will surely get better for her. But you'll just have to keep reading to find out. In the next chapter, Ben is reminded of a visit from a more popular character of the game. Let's just say they used to have "hella" good times together.


	5. Old and New Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The date is obviously meant to signify that it's a flashback. After that section of this chapter, it goes back to October 2013, taking place during the events of Episode 1 of Life is Strange. But once again, this is all an alternate timeline and we're now back to Ben's perspective on things. Enjoy!

**June 30th, 2013:**

Ben still had a perfect memory of this day in his head as the events that took place on it happened not too long ago. It wasn't just his birthday, but his eighteenth to be exact. This was the significant moment of his life in which he would now be entering the void of adulthood. And how exactly was he spending his special day so far? By lying in his bed.

Ben had slept until it was noon, like he did on most days in the summer. Usually, his dad would wake him up so he wouldn't end up being late to work with his Uncle Joaquin for the summer carpentry job he was working. Today was different, as his Uncle gave him the day off.

Ben rolled over in his bed to grab his phone and check for the time to see if it was justifiable to get up.

"1:00 PM, fair enough." Ben said, looking at the time on his phone. He then sat up on his bed, placing his feet down on the floor of his room and decided to check his phone for all of the unread messages that he slept through. He first saw one that was from his mom:

_**Mom:** _

**_Happy Birthday Benji! It felt like yesterday when I held you in my arms and now you're already an adult. Be sure to check the mailbox at your father's. I mailed something a little special for you. Love you more!_ **

**_Thanks mom! Miss you!_** _,_ Ben texted back.

Sometimes, this day was also hard for Ben. His mother was never able to celebrate his birthday with him since he always spent the entire summers with his dad in Arcadia Bay. It only made him hate it even more that his parents were separated. But he and his mom were always close. She was the reason that Ben developed such a taste for music and movies from the 70s and 80s. In fact, the vinyl record player that Ben owned belonged to her when she was his age and she decided to pass it on to him when he was moving to Arcadia Bay to attend Blackwell.

Ben often spent most of his life living with her. When he was five, his parents had finally had it with each other and decided to get a divorce one day. His mom took him with her and the two moved to San Francisco. After settling in, she eventually became good friends with a fellow co-worker who had a daughter that was Ben's age at the time. The little girl's name was Dana Ward and the two got along really well. The two moms would always arrange play dates for their kids, who would eventually go to school together and become somewhat of a brother-sister duo. Now they were both attending Blackwell together.

Ben then opened the next unread message, which was from his dad:

**_Dad:_ **

**_Happy Birthday Ben! I'm sorry that I'm not at home to celebrate with you. Of all the days my Alma Mater chose to host my class reunion, they just had to pick your special day. I'll make it up to you with a meal at the Two Whales diner when I come back tomorrow night. Plus I'll have your present for you too! You're gonna love it!_ **

Ben then read the next message from his dad that followed

**_Dad:_ **

**_And yes, I know that you're now 18 and you have the house to yourself tonight. That still doesn't give you an excuse to throw a party or even worse, burn the place down while I'm gone. Call me if you need anything._ **

There were several more messages that followed, each with the same kind of message as his parents'. They were all from Ben's relatives and even some of his friends back in San Francisco. He didn't even check his Facebook yet to see how many people had written "Happy Birthday" on his wall. He decided that he would find somewhere in the house to sit down and take the time to respond to all of the kind birthday wishes.

After Ben had showered, he changed into a red and gray tank top, navy shorts, and slipped into a pair of Sperry's. He then grabbed a bowl of cereal and proceeded to check his Facebook, until he heard a loud knock at the door.

No one was obviously here for his Dad since he was out of town, and Ben had only been in Arcadia Bay for two weeks. Who was it that really wanted to see him? It's just that he didn't really have a lot of friends in this town. He figured that it must have been a birthday present delivered to him. But from who? He gave up on guessing and opened the door to his surprise.

Standing in front of Ben's door as he opened it, was a girl that was close to his height and had a slender build. She wore pale blue ripped jeans, black boots, and a white sleeveless shirt with a skull on it. She wore a necklace with three bullets hanging on it, and had a tattoo sleeve on her right arm that displayed an artistic design of butterflies, flowers, and a yellow skull. She also had a dark blue beanie worn over her dyed blue hair. Ben was confused as to who exactly this was at first, but he was soon able to recognize the girl through her punk rocker fashion by looking into her bright blue eyes.

"Chloe Price?" Ben asked.

"Well yeah, who else were you expecting,' Ferris Bueller'?" Chloe retorted teasingly.

Ben was able to tell that this was definitely Chloe, as she had given Ben the nickname "Ferris Bueller" back when they had met a couple of summers back.

"Wow. Chloe, you um… look… different." Ben acknowledged, still trying to take in the appearance of her new look

"So do you." She replied.

"You been hitting the gym since we last seen each other?" Chloe asked as she noticed Ben's new appearance.

"You can say that. I've been doing some weightlifting for football." He stated.

"Well damn, back when I met you two summers ago, you looked like you never even picked up a weight in your entire life." She added jokingly.

Ben looked at Chloe somewhat awkwardly, still trying to figure out what she was doing here anyway.

"You look good, is what I'm trying to say." Chloe said to Ben.

"So, do you members of the Ferris family usually let your guests in or just let them stand outside in the sweltering heat? Just wondering." She asked sarcastically with a cheeky smile.

Ben was glad to know to that if one thing about Chloe didn't change, it was her sarcasm.

"Oh sorry, come on in" He told her as he apologized.

"Happy birthday, dude!" Chloe said as she leaned in to give him a hug. She then handed him a small white cardboard box with string tied around it and a gift bow attached on top.

"Thanks Chloe. What is it exactly?" Ben asked out of curiosity as he stared at the box.

"It's a bomb." Chloe answered nonchalantly.

"What?" Ben looked at her with a confused look on his face.

"I'm totally kidding dude. Man, you're gullible." Chloe reassured him as she laughed.

"It's a cake. My mom made it when she heard that you moved back into Arcadia Bay for good and I told her that I was gonna visit you today." She mentioned.

"Well, Joyce always did know the way to my stomach." Ben mentioned.

"Yeah, well the cake is for later." Chloe stated "Right now we gotta get our medication session on. Shall we?"

"We shall!" Ben replied. He placed the cake on the counter in the kitchen, just before the two went upstairs to Ben's room.

Chloe shut Ben's door behind her as Ben sat at his desk and opened one of his drawers.

"Oh, before we take part in our festivities, I wanted to give you your present I got you, before we get hella stoned." Chloe brought up.

Ben was then reminded of how Chloe loved the word "hella". They once spent so much time together one summer, that the word "hella" eventually caught on to Ben's vocabulary and he even got a couple of blank stares from his friends back in San Francisco when they first heard him use the word.

"Aw, Chloe, you didn't have to…" Ben said

"No, you deserve this, okay?" She interrupted.

"You've been a good friend for these past summers that we've known each other. And no matter how much I would bitch at you about how hard life was for me, you always listened. And people like that are hard to come by now these days." Chloe confessed to him as she began to choke up a bit.

"Plus, you'd also let me crash on your couch whenever I needed to get away from my step-douche, which makes you even more of a winner in my book." She finally added.

"So without further ado, happy birthday!" She said as she revealed a brand new vinyl record that she held behind her back to Ben.

"No way!" Ben reacted to the sight of the record.

It was  _Daft Punk's_  hit single,  _Get Lucky_ , which Ben now had the pleasure of playing on his record player, all thanks to Chloe. After all, Daft Punk was one of Ben's favorite musical artists that were from today's era of music.

"You have no idea how much I love this." Ben expressed to Chloe giddily. "Thanks Chloe! How did you even know to get this for me?" He asked.

"Cause you always mentioned how you're into vintage stuff." Chloe answered as if that question was a no-brainer.

"Seriously, I have… had a friend almost like you who's obsessed with Polaroid cameras. You two would probably make the best of friends." She joked.

"Well, not's waste any more time." Ben said. He found his bowl that he and Chloe would always use whenever she came to hang out at his place. Chloe pulled out a bag of fresh new bud that she recently bought and prepared to pack it into the bowl. The two were now ready to start "medicating".

Hours had passed and Ben and Chloe were now stoned to the point where they began to debate the benefits and risks of packing the bowl again. Ben enjoyed that Chloe had kept him company for his birthday, the two caught up on everything from life in Arcadia Bay and San Francisco to their plans for the future.

"So, what do you think you're gonna do after you graduate from Blackwell?" Chloe asked.

"Go to College, I guess." Ben simply answered, not knowing what else to say.

"Well no shit, that doesn't surprise me at all coming from someone like you." Chloe replied.

"Like, where do you think you would go and for what?" She demanded to know from Ben.

"Well," Ben said in a hesitant tone. "I've been thinking about being an actor lately." He told her.

"An actor?" Chloe asked. "Dude, I know that we're both hella baked right now, but are you're being one hundred percent serious with me?" She asked.

"I really mean it. Honest! Well, it feels like more than just a thought at this point. I'm already gonna be studying Drama and Film Studies at Blackwell anyway. Plus, I wouldn't be opposed to writing some screenplays for films on the side too." Ben expressed.

"I can totally see it dude." Chloe supported. "Ben 'fucking' Ferris: Movie Star, Writer, and Director." She said in her best impersonation of an announcer voice. "You better make it big in Hollywood, dude. Then give me a call when you do. That way, we can write and star in 'Pineapple Express 2' together." Chloe brought up.

"Sounds like a plan." Ben said.

The two had conversed more just before they heard the sound of the doorbell from downstairs.

"Oh, that's them." Chloe shouted as she jumped up from the floor and began to leave Ben's room.

"Who's them? Who are you talking about?" Ben asked wanting to know, from Chloe. He began to chase after her down the stairs.

"Just some party people." Chloe answered nonchalantly.

"What? Chloe no way." Ben snapped as he grabbed Chloe's arm and stopped her from opening the front door.

"What's wrong? All of a sudden, you don't want your special day to be celebrated by anyone else." She asked in an upset tone.

"No, it's not that." He told her truthfully. "It's just that... my Dad will make sure that I don't live to see the day I turn nineteen if we wreck this place. Ben added.

"Relax dude, I'll crash here with you tonight and we'll clean up everything when we wake up tomorrow." Chloe said as if she had the situation all planned out. "That is if we can power through our hangovers." She joked.

Chloe then opened the door and the two were welcomed by a crowd of people standing outside of the house. Every single one of them knew Chloe.

"Sup, Frank?" Chloe shouted addressing Frank Bowers, the local drug dealer in Arcadia Bay.

"Hey." Frank answered back. "Happy Birthday, Ace." He said, addressing Ben. "Where do want us to put the kegs?" He then asked Ben. And yes, when Frank said kegs, he meant more than one.

"Kegs?" Ben asked with a surprised look on his face, making sure he heard what Frank said correctly.

"That's right!" Chloe said.

"As your personal party planner, it's my job to make sure that you have fun tonight and get hella wasted at your own birthday party." She explained.

"Fuck it." Ben said to himself.

"Hey Frank, put one keg in the kitchen and the other outside in the backyard." Ben shouted eagerly, ready to get crazy for his eighteenth birthday.

Everyone standing behind Frank outside the house went wild as they knew the party had officially begun.

"Chloe, remind me to hire you as my wedding planner." Ben told her.

"I gotchu, bro." Chloe said as the two gave each other a fist bump.

"And thanks for doing all of this." He added.

"No problem. You deserve all of this anyway." She stated.

* * *

**Monday, October 7th, 2013 (Present Day)**

That was Ben's last memory that he had of him and Chloe this past summer. The two didn't get to spend much time together after that, as Ben ended up getting more work hours piled up on him. He also needed to make time to train for football.

Ben was sitting in his science class, still reminiscing about that epic day and night that Chloe planned for him. He wasn't even paying any attention to the lecture that his teacher, Ms. Grant was giving to the class. Luckily he sat in the back of the classroom and right next to Warren Graham, the smartest kid in the class who was a natural born science wiz. Unlike other Vortex Club members who excluded others outside of their social group, Ben didn't mind Warren at all. In fact, he liked his style. The two of them were both movie nerds at heart, and Warren actually had a wider knowledge of films than Ben. He had a flashdrive that was filled with hundreds of movies and anime, some that Ben had never even heard of. Science was never Ben's strongest subject and he didn't do so hot on the first exam in the class. After he saw that he got a D-, he then turned to Warren and asked if he could tutor him to help him bring his grade up. He needed to if he wanted to stay on the football team. Warren was only sixteen years-old though, making him the youngest student attending Blackwell. Despite him being two years younger than most of the other students, Ben felt that Warren was much more mature and respectful than any of the football players on the team.

Today, Ben was eager for the bell to ring, concluding the final class of the day. He wasn't dying to be anywhere specific. He was just waiting all day to talk to Mr. Jefferson about taking part in an independent study that he could tie to his Video Production class. Independent Studies were really nobody's favorite thing to complete at Blackwell. Every student was required to do one before graduating from the Academy. The procedure was simple though. Students were to take any kind of experience outside of class, rather it be a sport or club and do a 24-hour observation period. Once the required amount of hours for the observation period were met the student would then have to write a 1,000 word essay, tying their activity of choice back to any of their classes they were taking. Everybody hated it as it was just more work to fulfill alongside with their class schedule, the mandatory deadline to submit the independent study application was today. It wasn't until late last night, that Ben came to the conclusion that he wanted Mr. Jefferson to assist him in his independent study. He figured that working alongside a former cinematographer would look good on his resume if he wanted to make it in the film industry. Ben decided that he would go talk to Jefferson, who was in the classroom across the hall and ask if he could have the privilege to work with him, that was if the two both had flexible hours that worked around Ben having football practice.

The bell eventually rang and Ben swept his notebook and pencil on the table into his backpack using his arm. He jumped out of his seat and rushed out of the classroom trying his best not to push or shove anybody out of the way. He could see some of his fellow Vortex Club friends just walking out of Jefferson's classroom as he made his way to go in. He engaged in a bit of small talk with them as he passed by.

"What's up, Ben?" Taylor greeted with a warm smile as she flashed a peace sign with her hand.

"Not much T-Swizz. How bout you?" Ben replied and asked her.

"Chillin now that I saw your smiling face." She said back in a flirtatious manner.

"Ben, my man!" Hayden shouted to him as the two performed their secret handshake they created together.

"Sup Hayden." Ben asked

"Not much dude. You down to try out my new bong… I mean game system I bought over the weekend?" Hayden asked, choosing his words carefully to make sure a teacher or even David Madsen or Principal Wells didn't hear him.

"Maybe tonight after I get out of practice. I bet you I can get a new 'high' score on that thing, haha." Ben played along with Hayden.

Just as he opened the door to Jefferson's classroom, Ben was met by the brunette girl, Max. It was already October and he still hadn't introduced himself to the girl with the camera, even though they had one class togehter. He always saw her walking around campus, taking pictures with her Polaroid camera. Ben was always first to put himself out there and introduce himself to new people whenever he had the opportunity. Then he thought about her camera and wondered to himself,

" _Could that be Chloe's old friend that she briefly brought up that one time?_ " Ben thought to himself. " _Probably not._ " He concluded.

"I see you, Max Caulfield. Don't even think about leaving here until we talk about your entry." Mr. Jefferson shouted to Max as she made her way to the door. She then turned around and walked over to Mr. Jefferson's desk, where he was seen chatting with Victoria, who was without a doubt trying to get her flirt on with him.

"Oh hey, Ben." Mr. Jefferson called acknowledging Ben who was standing in the doorway.

"I'll be right with you. Just feel free to take a seat anywhere in the classroom while I finish talking with Miss Chase and Miss Caulfield." He added.

Ben did as the man said. And looked for a vacant table to sit and wait at until Jefferson would give his attention to him. Upon looking at the tables, he saw Kate again. She was sitting at one of the tables, not moving her body even an inch and staring down at the surface of the table. Did she not know that class was officially over?

Ben felt obliged to walk over to the blonde and ask her if she was alright, but something was also telling him that it would be best if she was left alone. Ben decided to sit at the table in front of her in case he changed his mind. As he pulled the chair out to take a seat he heard the sound of a piece of paper crinkle under his foot. He moved his foot to see that it was in fact a balled up piece of paper. He picked it up and sat down in his chair, his back now facing Kate's. He then unwrapped the paper ball figuring that it was just a note that someone passed to their friend in class. Wanting to eavesdrop on the conversation of the previous students, Ben was shocked at what he read upon unraveling the concealed note.

**_Dear Kate, We love your porn video XOXO -Blackwell Academy._ **

" _What the hell? If this is supposed to be a joke, it's not really funny._ " Ben thought to himself.

Ben decided to ask Kate if she had seen this note since it was referring to her. He turned around and was about to tap her on the shoulder to ask her if she had seen this. He only wanted to show it to her to make sure she was aware of it. Before his finger could even meet her shoulder, she had gotten up out of her chair, placed her red handbag over her shoulder, and began to walk out of the classroom, completely unaware that Ben was in her proximity.

"Well, you tried Ben." He said to himself feeling bad seeing her like that.

Mr. Jefferson was finally done chatting with Max and Victoria at his desk and began to walk over to Ben who was still sitting at the table.

"What's that you've got?" Mr. Jefferson asked as he saw Ben with the note referring to Kate.

"Oh, just some girl's number from my last class." Ben lied putting the note away. He didn't want Jefferson to catch him red-handed with a hurtful note that wasn't even his.

"Well, it's not my business to know who my students are seeing anyway." Mr. Jefferson laughed.

"So, what can I do for you Ben?" He asked.

"It's about the…" Ben began to speak.

"The independent study, that's right. You mentioned it to me when we had class earlier today." Mr. Jefferson interrupted Ben as he remembered.

"Do you have the application with you?" He asked Ben.

"Yeah, here it is." Ben answered as he pulled out a white sheet of paper that was folded in a square. He began to unfold it as Jefferson pulled out a pen to sign his name on the application.

"Well, it's not in the best condition, but it'll still get by with the folks in the main office." Jefferson joked commenting about the appearance of Ben's application.

"Here you are Mr. Ferris." He said to Ben in an upbeat tone.

"It's great to see that we have a student here at Blackwell with an interest in the Film industry." He added. "So, how about we start on Wednesday at 4 PM, right after school?" Mr. Jefferson asked Ben.

"Wednesday works for me." Ben answered with enthusiasm.

"Wednesday it is then. I'm looking forward to working with you outside of class, Ben." Jefferson stated.

"Thanks again for this." Ben thanked him with excitement before leaving the classroom. He threw the nasty note about Kate in the trash can and left the room.

Ben made a quick stop at his locker to put away his books that he didn't need for his homework. As he walked down the hall which had a fair amount of students still hanging around, he and everyone else was alerted by the sound of a siren. It wasn't the familiar sound of the bell that let the students know class was dismissed. This was the sound of the fire alarm, which had everyone caught off guard by the noise. Ben thought that this had to be the work of some asshole who decided to hit the fire alarm button as a prank. As he was about to make his way out of the school building and find a safe spot to stay outside, he saw the door of the girls' bathroom open. As Ben looked to his curiosity, he recognized the familiar face of his old friend he hadn't seen since his birthday over the summer.

"Chloe?" Ben asked in surprise.

"Ben." Chloe shouted in relief to see him.

"Come on, follow me." She ordered.

"But, I..." Ben tried to tell Chloe he needed to report outside of the main building before he'd get in trouble for loitering in the halls while the fire alarm was going off.

"Are you coming or not?" She snapped at him.

"Shit." Ben said to himself as he began to follow Chloe.

As Ben looked to his right, he also noticed Nathan walking out of the girl's bathroom shortly after. What was he doing in there in the first place? Why was Chloe here at Blackwell when she had gotten expelled a few years back? His mind was racing with questions and the annoying sound of the siren and worry of being caught by someone didn't help either.

Ben and Chloe exited through one of the side exits of the main building. They raced through the parking lot to get to Chloe's car, a yellow rusted pick-up truck.

"Get in. We're fugitives now." Chloe joked to Ben as if this was all some kind of game to her.

Ben opened up the door to the passenger's seat as Chloe inserted her keys into the ignition. She pulled out of the parking lot and the two took off, leaving Blackwell Academy.

* * *

Ben and Chloe both agreed on going to Arcadia Bay's lighthouse, a quiet and secluded area where they could catch up on everything else that happened over the summer. The two were currently conversing about Ben's historic birthday party.

"I'm actually surprised you remembered that night at all." Chloe laughed, thinking back to just how inebriated Ben was that night.

"Yeah, well it was mostly just bits and pieces anyway." Ben confessed.

"Without a doubt." Chloe agreed. "I still couldn't believe that of all of the places I could have found you when the party was finally over, you happened to be passed out in the backyard, covered in your own puke." She mentioned trying to fight back her laughter.

"You remember that part better than I do." Ben said as he smirked. "Thanks for the lift by the way, Chloe." He added.

"No worries, I just wish our summer could have been filled with more adventures like they used to." Chloe expressed somewhat sadly.

"Me too." Ben said. "It's just that I ended up getting swamped with more hours at my Uncle's Carpentry Company. I had to start taking shifts for one of his co-workers after he got killed by a drunk dri... I mean passed away." Ben said as he restated his sentence. He avoided making eye contact with Chloe at this moment.

"Dude, it's okay." Chloe said in an annoyed but sincere voice.

"It's already been five years since my Dad... left me and my mom. I just gotta learn how to move on. But it's hard to do that when people like my 'step-tool' try to bring me down to their own level." She said sadly looking out into the sun.

"So what was the whole deal with you and Nathan running out the girl's bathroom today?" Ben asked with concern as he tried to change the subject.

"I needed some cash from him. Like hella bad. And if he wasn't gonna pay up, then I was gonna rat his ass out that he was selling drugs to kids at Blackwell." Chloe explained to Ben.

"Well yeah, I know he does. I even bought some bud off of him once. But what do you got against Nathan anyway to blackmail him?" Ben asked with wonder.

"It's cause he's an elite asshole who sells bad shit cut with laxative...and he dosed me with some drug in his room." Chloe confessed to Ben.

"What? No way!" Ben replied in disbelief

"Look, I'm sorry if he's your whole Vortex Club BFF, but he's actually a total scumbag." Chloe protested.

"So how did it happen? Him dosing you." Ben asked.

"I met him in some shithole bar that didn't card me. He was too rich for the place and too wasted. And he kept flashing bills..." She added.

"Just tell me what happened, Chloe. Please?" Ben begged.

"I was an idiot. I thought he was so blazed it would be an easy score." Chloe stated.

"So you needed the money that bad?" Ben questioned.

"Actually, yes. I owe big time. And I thought I'd have enough for me and Rachel if she showed up..." Chloe brought up.

"Rachel? You mean, Rachel Amber, the girl who went missing a few months back?" Ben asked with interest.

"Yeah, that's her. But anyway, Nathan and I went back to his room at Blackwell. We drank and I laughed at his rich kid bullshit. He was one step ahead and put something in my beer..." Chloe mentioned.

"Shit Chloe, I can't believe this... I mean, I do but... Then what?" Ben responded still in shock at what Chloe was telling him. Chloe was a couple of things but not a liar. He still wanted to take her side though.

"I passed out on the floor. I woke up and next thing I know, that perv was smiling and crawling towards me with a camera." Chloe said.

"What the fu… sorry, go on." Ben reacted trying to contain his emotions.

"Everything was a blur... I tried to kick him in the balls and broke a lamp. Nathan freaked, so I managed to bum rush the door and get the hell out. Ben, it was insane." Chloe revealed to Ben, still sounding traumatized by the event.

"Chloe, this is so fucked up." Ben said angrily. "What did you do then?" He asked.

"I figured I would make him pay me to keep quiet. So we met in the bathroom. That was until I realized the fucker brought a gun with him and pointed it at me. And then that was when the fire alarm had went off, you and I happened to run into each other in the hallway, and here we are now." Chloe added, finally finishing her entire story to Ben.

"Chloe, this is serious. If Nathan actually did have a gun on him, then we need to go to the police. I'll testify with you. I saw him walk out of the bathroom right after you did." Ben stated as he wanted to let his friend know he had her back.

"I appreciate that, Ben. I really do. But I just don't want you to get involved in this." Chloe expressed, dismissing Ben's advice.

"Why not? You're my friend and you know that I'd go out of my way for you." Ben argued.

"Dude, I know." Chloe shouted.

"It's just that... you're a student at Blackwell now and the Prescotts own that place. And if you try to cross Nathan, let alone stab him in the back when you two are friends, his family could make your life a living hell." She advised him.

"Well then what am I supposed to do? Confront him about everything you just told me. We can't just let this slide, Chloe." Ben preached to her.

"You could if you wanted to. Unless you want him to pop a cap in you." Chloe sighed.

Ben had given up on trying to persuade Chloe to take the situation into her own hands. He then checked his phone to see that the two had left Blackwell over an hour ago. He then saw that Victoria had replied to a message that he sent her earlier.

**_Ben:_ **

**_Hey Victoria, I heard someone talking about some porn video that involved Kate Marsh. Do you happen to know anything about that?_ **

**_Victoria:_ **

**_OMG Ben! How did you not see that at the VC party on Friday night? Kate's tongue count was off the charts lol. There's a youtube video of it up on a website and pictures of it are up all over campus. I'll send you the link._ **

**_Ben:_ **

**_You don't have to do that. I just wanted to know what all the buzz was about. Thanks!_ **

**_Victoria:_ **

**_Ok, your loss then :P_ **

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Ben asked Chloe.

"Ask away 'Ferris Bueller'." Chloe replied.

"So, there's this girl back at Blackwell who seems really quiet and doesn't really party or anything like that." Ben began to bring up.

"Only thing is she went to one of the Vortex Club parties over the weekend and got completely trashed. And now everyone's talking about her being in some video of her making out with a bunch of guys." Ben stated with a bit of worry in his voice.

"Well maybe she just felt that she needed to let loose for once." Chloe said as she sat back admiring the view from where they were sitting.

"Look, I'm being serious." Ben snapped.

"What if Nathan had something to do with that too? Maybe he slipped something in her drink that caused her to do all that crazy shit that people are saying." Ben theorized.

"Knowing someone like him, it's possible." Chloe answered. "But you can have all of the time to play detective back at Blackwell and figure things out while you interrogate Nathan. You ready to head back now?"

"Yeah. I better get back to Blackwell before your 'step-douche' launches a search party for me." Ben joked.

The two laughed as they made their way back to Chloe's truck.

* * *

Chloe had drove back to Blackwell to drop off Ben. They pulled into the student parking lot and came to a stop. Before Ben opened the door to get out of the truck and take off, he turned to face Chloe.

"Thanks for the lift Chloe." Ben thanked as he was happy to have reunited with his best friend again.

"Yeah, no problem. Just remember what I said about Nathan, alright? He's not exactly who he seems to be." Chloe reminded him.

"Got it. I'll try to talk to him when I see him and find out what his problem is." Ben mentioned to reassure Chloe that he would help her.

"You can try." Chloe said with a blank expression on her face, not even looking at Ben. He stepped out of her truck and began to walk back to his dorm, noticing that Chloe was still waiting in the parking lot.

As Ben walked back to the dormitories he could hear the sound of someone raising their voice. From what he could hear, it sounded like none other than David Madsen, Blackwell Academy's head of security and Chloe's stepfather. He was most likely giving someone a hard time like always. Ben followed David's voice, hoping to get a glimpse of what petty issue the guy was shouting about. As he got closer to the dorms, he looked around the corner to see Kate being confronted by David. Kate seemed so shy and harmless from what Ben had observed, whenever he saw her walking around campus. So what exactly did she do to piss off David? Ben didn't know the answer to that, but whatever it was, David was getting too out of line when he approached her.

"...so don't think I'm blind! I see everything here at Blackwell! Do you understand what I'm saying?" David shouted at Kate sternly. He then poked her shoulder with his index finger.

"No, and leave me alone!" Kate pleaded as she was slightly pushed back from the force of David's poke. Ben could see that she had a fearful look on her face.

Ben felt like he would be making a huge mistake by interfering and getting on David's bad side. But what was the right thing to do in a case like this? He couldn't just stand there idly and let the poor girl get picked on.

"Hey! Why don't you do what she says? Leave her alone!" Ben demanded as he made his choice to stand up for Kate.

"Excuse us, this is official campus business." David shouted at Ben for intervening.

Kate began to look down at her feet with a sad expression on her face as she felt that someone stepping in would only make the situation worse.

"'Campus business'? Oh, so you mean yelling in a student's face and bullying them?" Ben responded as he stepped in front of Kate, blocking David's full view of her. He and David were now face to face. The mustached security guard stood slightly taller than Ben and even had a muscular build from his time spent in the military.

"Hey, hey, nobody is bullying anybody. I'm doing my job." David argued in his defense.

"Yeah, 'doing your job'." Ben replied with sarcasm in his voice as he made quotation marks with his hands.

"I led troops into combat and this is the kind of respect I get here? I know who you are. And you're now part of the problem, 'Mr. Bigfoot'. I will remember this conversation." David barked at Ben as he gave him a warning before walking away from the two students.

Ben took a deep sigh to clear his mind before turning around to comfort the girl who had clearly been in distress.

"Are you alright?" Ben asked her.

"Y-Yes, I-I am." Kate answered timidly, still in disbelief of what she had just witnessed. A stranger, in her eyes, had actually just went out of their way to help her.

"That was great. I think you scared him for once." Kate stated excitedly to Ben.

"Yeah, I think so too." Ben replied, still trying to process what he had just done.

"I'm Ben by the way." He introduced himself to her.

"My name's Kate." She replied.

"I have to go now, but thank you, Ben. It means a lot." Kate happily thanked him before she walked away.

"Any time, Kate." Ben replied. He smiled as he watched her run off happily.

He had properly introduced himself to the mysterious blonde he had seen since the first weekend at Blackwell. Though, he kind of wished that they had met under much different circumstances. Still, he felt that he had done his good deed for the day, if not the week, considering how he spoke to an authority figure in such a way. He proudly walked back to his dorm to call it a day.


	6. Guardian Angel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably by far the heaviest chapter so far. Reader discretion is advised if stuff like bullying or suicide isn't your kind of thing to read about it. I now bring you guys my latest chapter! Be sure to have a box of tissues nearby when reading this one. I felt like including a lot of the dialogue from LiS Episode 2 in this chapter, so things may get a bit repetitive at times.

Ben was a man on a mission. He had woken up at 5:00 am as the sun was still fighting to make its way up into the sky. The reason he was up so early on a Tuesday morning was to clean up the mess that was made by certain people yesterday. He was running around all over campus to find and take down any of the pictures that had to do with Kate's video. Ben didn't dare to watch that video, but the printed out photos only made him wonder what kind of sick, twisted, antics were involved in it. He was disturbed by the images of the nicely dressed girl, kissing and grabbing various guys at the party. This just didn't seem like her though. To Ben, he would have loved to meet the practical joker who filmed the video in the first place, and shove the phone that they recorded it on, down their throat. Mostly for them making Ben go through all of this trouble this morning.

He took down one of the photos that was taped to the bulletin board, which was placed right outside of the main academic building, and noticed something different about this one compared to the others. It was simply just Kate walking around the Vortex Club party area and he also noticed what looked like Victoria and her friends on the left side of the photo, pointing and laughing at her. But something was different about Kate in this photo compared to how Ben had usually seen her walking around Blackwell. She looked almost as if she was high. Her eyes were closed, she was smiling, and she wasn't even aware of her current surroundings. It came to Ben again that maybe she really was drugged, just like Chloe with Nathan. This could explain Kate's uncharacteristic behavior that people were raving about in the video. He figured that if anyone would know anything about this, it would probably be Nathan himself.

Even though he still wanted to help Chloe, Ben was hoping that the accusations she made about Nathan yesterday weren't true though. He had already known Nathan for a little over a month, and from what he had always seen, Nathan didn't seem like the kind of person to try and hurt someone. But Ben started to rethink this about the spoiled rich kid since yesterday. Unless someone's trying to get in a quickie with some chick, a guy who happens to be in the girl's bathroom usually doesn't have the best intentions.

"That should be the last one." Ben proudly said to himself, taking down what looked to be the very last printed image of Kate.

He took a mental note in his head of all of the places he searched. The dormitory, both the boys and girls floors, the parking lot which had one on every car's windshield, the main building, and the locker rooms. Ben even took the bold initiative to check the girl's locker room early enough before someone even entered.

"Thanks for the tip, Victoria." He said to himself as he threw the final batch of pictures into a trash can.

' _I'd rather shred or burn these to make sure nobody ever sees them again, but I don't have much time. I still need to shower.'_  He thought to himself as he was sweating through his hoodie and sweatpants he was wearing. He felt like a madman that had just completed some kind of perverse scavenger hunt. Ben wasn't sure if he dedicated two whole hours of taking down all of those pictures, simply because he was truly concerned for Kate or that he just felt that Blackwell needed to be a more respectful and caring environment. Perhaps it was just a little bit of both.

* * *

Kate could hear her alarm clock go off once more, reminding her that she needed to get up and begin her early bird routine. She wasn't exactly thrilled to start the day as she usually was. She rolled her eyes and turned to her side to shut off the alarm and get out of her bed. She wore her usual set of pajamas, a white top, with a design of a pattern of flowers at the center, and a pair of turquoise sleep pants with both pant legs rolled up above her ankles. They made her feel like a little girl again on the inside, young and innocent. But she felt anything but innocent anymore. She felt corrupted. She had her long blonde hair worn down, which appeared to be frizzy from tossing and turning in her sleep last night. She looked in her mirror and saw that her eyes appeared to be bloodshot along with a few bags underneath. She struggled to sleep the past few nights as her mind was still fixated on that video and the backlash and shame she was receiving from her classmates and family. Not wanting to see her face anymore, she took a blanket from off of her bed and used it to cover the mirror.

Kate grabbed her basket of shower supplies and her toothbrush and made her way to the bathroom. Walking down the vacant hallway with her head down, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone, she took a left turn down the hall and arrived at the bathroom pushing open the door. As she entered the room, she took one of the unoccupied shower cubicles and closed the curtain behind her. After stripping out of her pajamas, she turned on the warm water hoping that it would help sooth her soul. She finished rinsing the conditioner out of her hair, turned off the water, and slipped back into her pajamas after drying herself off with her bath towel.

Kate then walked over to one of the sinks in the bathroom where she could look into the mirror to tie her hair into her signature bun. She then began to brush her teeth at the sink as Max had entered the bathroom carrying all of her shower supplies.

"Hey, Kate. How are you doing?" Max asked trying to strike a successful conversation with Kate. She was hoping Kate wouldn't be so brief with her this time like yesterday.

"I'm here." Kate simply replied. "I don't know if I told you yet, but that football player named Ben stood up to David for me yesterday." She mentioned in a more cheerful tone.

"That's awesome Kate. Ben seems like a really cool guy compared to the other jocks around here. And David has some serious issues." Max said as she felt glad hearing that someone else was also looking out for Kate.

"Doesn't everybody here." Kate replied in response to Max's comment about David. "By the way Max, do you still have my copy of  _The October Country?_ " She asked.

"Oh. Yes, of course. It's great so far. I didn't realize Bradbury was such a poet." Max expressed with enthusiasm. There was an awkward moment of silence that followed, which broke the potential conversation about Ray Bradbury's style of poetry.

"Can you please bring it back to my room this morning? I just need to take some notes for class." Kate asked abruptly as she broke the silence.

"Absolutely. I'll bring it by later." Max promised before she went to jump into the shower.

As Max had closed the shower curtain behind her and began to turn the faucet to get water running, Kate proceeded to brush her teeth and looked down at the sink, not wanting to see herself in the mirror. She felt like she was a different person, compared to when she first moved in at Blackwell on that warm sunny August day. She was all smiles and excitement, moving in all her things with the help of her parents and her two younger sisters, Lynn and Emma. Despite always wearing her hair in the same fashion and having her usual outfit, Kate only felt like she was just wearing a mask for the past few days. To her, the real Kate Marsh had died on that fateful night of the Vortex Club party she attended. All she simply felt that she could do now was find a way, any way if possible, to put an end to this madness she was living through. Suddenly, Victoria and her usual lackey, Taylor, had entered the bathroom, both approaching Kate and standing next to her at both sides of the sink, where she was brushing her teeth.

"What's up Kate?" Victoria asked in a taunting voice.

"School." Kate replied in a monotone demeanor. She tried her best to ignore the two.

"That's it?" Taylor snarked.

"That video of you clubbing sure didn't look like homework." Victoria teased at Kate nastily.

"Victoria, that wasn't me." Kate cried out, feeling humiliated.

"Oh my God. Right." Taylor said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

"Don't be shy. I think it's awesome that you set a tongue record on video." Victoria stated as she and Taylor began to laugh.

"You're going to be sorry someday." Kate replied as her voice choked. Her eyes began to fill up with tears as she stormed out of the bathroom furiously.

"Oh boohoo, I'm sorry you're a viral slut." Victoria shouted out, hoping that Kate would hear those last few words. "I'm sure she had fun." She added.

"Looks like it." Taylor agreed.

"I know Nathan hooked her up. And you know he has the good shit." Victoria commented.

"Preach it, sista." Taylor applauded. The two girls then began to look at their selves in the mirror.

"Yuck. I still have goddamn paint all over my face." Victoria complained as she still examined herself in the mirror. "'Max Selfie' thought she was a badass taking that picture. I shoulda beat her down."

"That was so uncool." Taylor expressed.

"She's jealous because Mark...Mr. Jefferson knows I'm going to win the 'Everyday Heroes' contest. He thinks Max is a joke". Victoria boasted.

"She's a weirdo with that dumb camera." Taylor remarked.

"I hate that 'I'm so quirky' crap." Victoria said. "Anyway, let's leave the link to Kate's video so everybody gets a chance to see her in action." She said with a sinister grin on her face.

"You are such an evil beeatch. I love it!" Taylor said, encouraging her best friend.

Victoria then pulled out a tube of red lipstick and wrote the link across one of the bathroom mirrors before she and Taylor left the bathroom laughing with each other. However, the two girls were completely unaware that Max was in the shower the whole time and overheard their entire conversation. As she dried off and stepped out of the shower, she was able to see the red lipstick writing on the mirror that had written out the exact link to the viral video.

Max wiped away the link on the mirror with her hand before she left the bathroom.

' _Even if I can stop one person from watching it, it's worth it.'_  She thought to herself.

* * *

"Kate? You in there?" a voice called from outside of Kate's room.

"Yes, I'm here. Come in Max." Kate replied recognizing the voice as Max's.

Max entered the room, observing the dark and somber ambiance it had with it. She saw how Kate's mirror had been covered with the blanket. Her window was blocked by her curtains, disregarding the sunny weather outside. She saw Kate's violin case, which reminded her how she hadn't heard Kate play her violin in the past few days. She then saw Kate, still dressed in her pajamas, sitting at her desk and sobbing with her head down.

"Uh, hey, Kate, I brought your book." Max said softly, hoping that she didn't catch Kate at a bad time. As Kate remembered that Max was here to return her copy of  _The October Country_ that she borrowed, she picked up her head and wiped away her tears with her hand.

"Max, why do you think that Ben stepped in between me and David yesterday? He doesn't even know me." Kate asked.

"Maybe he just hates bullies. And David Madsen should know better." Max said.

"I was hoping he would. But it's nice to see that someone else cares about me." Kate expressed.

"Kate, Ben might just be another jock, who's a member of the Vortex Club, but he actually does appreciate other people outside of his social group." Max stated. "So, what's the whole story between you and David?" she questioned.

"Well... he's a total paranoid ass! He thinks I'm part of the vortex Club. Yeah right." Kate said.

"Did you party with them?" Max asked.

"I went to a Vortex Club party against my better judgment. Not my scene at all." Kate said with regret. "Do you know how humiliating this is for me?"

"I know this sucks, Kate, but...tell me about what happened that night and maybe I can help." Max said.

"Basically, I went to one Vortex Club party and ended up making out with a bunch of people...and I have no memory of it." Kate explained.

"So, why would you go?" Max asked out of curiosity.

"Lapse of sanity? I just thought I could meet some new people." Kate admitted.

"You have to tell me more than that. What happened at the party? Did you drink?" Max questioned so that she could help her friend.

"I swear to God I had one sip of red wine. And then I drank water." Kate testified.

"Not enough to get wasted, is it?" Max asked.

"I don't get wasted. Ever. I take a sip at church and I don't end up on a viral video, okay?" Kate snapped at Max.

"Did somebody drug you?" Max then questioned.

"I remember...I remember getting sick and dizzy..." She recalled from that night.

"Go on..." Max said as she encouraged Kate to continue her story.

"Then Nathan Prescott said he would take me to the hospital." Kate then recollected.

"Nathan Prescott? Oh, shit!" Max remarked in shock. That was the last name she had wanted to hear.

"He was being nice for a change when he offered to help me." Kate explained, hoping to avoid judgement from Max.

"He's the opposite of nice. What next?" Max said.

"All I recall is driving for a long time...then I woke up in a room...I thought it was a hospital because it was so white and bright..." Kate remembered.

"Go on, I'm listening." Max encouraged Kate to continue her story.

"Somebody was talking to me in a soft voice...I thought it was a doctor...until I heard Nathan and felt a sharp sting in my neck...and...and..." Kate then mentioned.

"And?" Max asked.

"That's all I remember! I don't know what else happened... I woke up outside my dorm room the next day. I didn't have any marks or bruises, but I felt gross." Kate reestablished.

"So, who took the video of you at the party?" Max questioned.

"I have no idea. Probably Victoria. She was there being her mean self." Kate suspected.

"Jesus, Kate, I'm sorry. This is serious shit." Max declared.

"How do I get a viral video taken down? I know it's already spreading. What if my church sees that? I need to know what to do." Kate said frantically.

"Kate, we'll figure it out. I'll check back later, okay?" Max promised.

"Thanks, Max. You can put my book here, near my bag." Kate said, pointing to her backpack. Max placed the book down, right next to Kate's bag. "So, Max, can I ask you a question? And please be honest."

"Absolutely, Kate. Anything." Max said.

"I need to find out if Nathan Prescott helped me...or hurt me after that party. Should I go to the police?" Kate asked with deep concern.

"Yes, you should definitely go to the police, Kate. I totally believe every word you say. Nathan Prescott is truly dangerous." Max advised.

"Bless you, Max. I will go to the police...and also Principal Wells. With you as my back-up witness, they'll have to take us seriously now." Kate spoke as she felt a sense of confidence, knowing someone would have her back.

"Back-up witness?" Max questioned with hesitation. "Well, I mean, I believe you and everything, but...we're still just spoiled punk students to the cops and faculty... I just think we need to be very careful here..." She explained.

"Why? Careful of what?" Kate asked in confusion.

"Nothing...except the Prescotts are a powerful family. I hope this won't backfire on us, that's all. Even though that rich bastard has earned some serious bad karma. He'll get it." Max guaranteed.

Max had walked out of the room, thinking to herself if it was a good idea to encourage Kate to go to the police. After all, The Prescotts did own Blackwell and a good portion of Arcadia Bay. For all she knew, they could just bribe the police to look the other way if they wanted to.

* * *

Ben made his way back to the dormitory to head inside and take a quick shower after his morning run that he embarked on. As he began to walk over to the front door, he was stopped by Samuel, the local caretaker at Blackwell.

"Well hello there, Mr. Ben." Samuel greeted to Ben as he sat on a bench.

"Oh hey, what's up Samuel?" Ben asked in reply.

"Samuel is just admiring the beautiful morning. How everything is so calm and peaceful. I can hear the animals waking up with me." Samuel shared with Ben. Ben always felt that Samuel was an oddball at Blackwell. But he did admire the man's optimism, no less.

"Sounds almost relaxing, I was busy this morning with taking down... I mean cleaning up a bunch of trash that people left around the campus." Ben said, changing the subject to not inform Samuel of the kind of gossip happening around the school.

"Ah, Samuel has heard from the great far and wide that you are a good young man at heart. Your future looks very bright, Mr. Ben." Samuel expressed to Ben.

"Thanks, Samuel. I'll catch you around later." Ben said, not knowing how to react to Samuel's "visions."

"Of course you will." Samuel kindly replied.

Just as Ben began to walk towards the steps, he ran into Max, who was just leaving the building.

"Hey, Ben. What's with the Rocky get-up?" Max asked observing Ben's current outfit, which were his sweats he was wearing.

"Oh, hey Max." Ben replied.

"I decided to go out for a run this morning and take down all of the pictures from Kate's video that someone put up all over campus. My guess is that it was Victoria's doing." Ben explained.

"Good for you for wanting to make a difference, Ben. Plus, Kate told me about how you got David to get off her back. That's awesome that you did that for her." Max stated.

"Well yeah, I just couldn't stand seeing her get bullied like that. Especially when it's by someone who's job is supposed to make us feel safe here." Ben shared.

"No argument here." Max stated in agreement.

"Hey, this is between you and me, but Kate still seems pretty phased by this whole video about her. And even worse, Victoria wrote the link on a mirror in the girl's bathroom. I erased it though." Max disclosed to Ben in confidence.

"Seriously? How old is Victoria?" Ben responded in disgust. "Well, I'm you glad that you stepped up and took action like that. Blackwell really needs more people like you, Max." He said as he praised Max for her selfless act.

"Likewise, Ben." Max responded.

"Also, I know that you're part of the Vortex Club and all, but Kate thinks that she might have been drugged by Nathan Prescott at the last party you guys had. She said the last thing she remembered was leaving the party with him because he was going to take her to the hospital. It wasn't bad enough that I saw him pull out a gun in the girls' bathroom yesterday." She added.

"So Chloe was right about all that." He said.

"Wait. You know Chloe Price?" Max spoke out in awe.

"Yeah, I do. Long story short, I was born here in Arcadia Bay and then when I was five, I moved to San Francisco with my mom after she and my dad got a divorce. I'd always live with my dad over the summers in Arcadia Bay and eventually became friends with Chloe a few summers back. She's almost like the big sister that I never had." He mentioned.

"Wow, I never knew that about you. I used to be a native of Arcadia Bay just like you, but I moved out to Seattle five years ago with my parents... I mean..." She said. She felt bad briefly mentioning to Ben how both of her parents were still together.

"It's alright, Max." Ben laughed as he picked up on her word choice.

"It's my parents' own problem that they decided to split, not mine." He said trying not to dwell on the subject.

"Chloe and I are about to get breakfast at the Two Whales if you want to tag along." Max mentioned wanting to include Ben.

"Thanks for the offer, Max, but maybe some other time. Besides, I still reek from running around this morning." Ben said.

"See you later Ben. And thanks for looking out for Kate." She said as she walked away.

"Any time. And just be careful of Nathan, alright." He shouted as he was starting to express concern for her.

* * *

Ben walked back into his room and got out of his sweats before grabbing his shower caddy and heading to the bathroom. After coming back from a warm shower, he got dressed into a pair of dark blue jeans with, both of the pant legs slightly rolled up, a gray baseball shirt with navy blue ¾ sleeves and, his black converse. He grabbed his backpack and walked to the cafeteria to grab some breakfast. After making a pit stop at his locker, Ben decided to make his way over to the student lounge. He figured that he would get some of his homework done before he had to be on the field for practice. It began raining outside so no one was hanging out on the grass as usual. As he walked into the room he saw a couple of his classmates like Luke Parker and Evan Harris playing a game of pool at the pool table and was then greeted by a group of his fellow Vortex Club friends all gathered around by the couches, chatting about all the crazy happenings from the past few days.

"There he is," Zach shouted in response to Ben walking in. "The man, the myth, the legend. Big Ben himself!"

"Care to indulge in some of the gossip Ben?" Victoria asked inclusively.

"Thanks, but I'm all set!" Ben replied politely. He loved spending time with all his friends who were part of the Vortex Club. After all, they were the first group of people he met during the first weekend when everyone else had moved in on campus. Some of them he had even met during the summer orientation. But Ben always hated drama and talking about people behind their backs, and it was a common trend in the Vortex Club. Instead he sat at a circular table with four chairs around it, pulled out his laptop from his bag, and decided to continue working on his homework for his Creative Writing class. It was by far his favorite class he was taking at Blackwell next to Drama with Sarah. He remembered how much he loved to read as a little kid, and it inspired him to write stories of his own. Deep down, he didn't just want to act, but he also wanted to write stories that could potentially turn into books and movies. He figured if two of his favorite actors, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, could write the screenplay for an Academy Award winning film like  _Good Will Hunting_ at such a young age, then what was his excuse.

Ben was working on the assignment that his teacher, Mrs. Hoida, had left for her class before she became absent on sick leave. No one knew exactly why she had left, but Ben had heard rumors that she was dealing with severe depression. He hoped that wasn't the case. He thought she was really nice and she was very accepting of people's work in the class. She once told Ben that he had a natural talent for writing stories. He put on his headphones, plugged them into his laptop and began to play some music to drown out the commotion of his friends. A few minutes later, Dana Ward had happily bounced into the room and approached Ben sitting at the table to talk to him. Ben looked up to see his cheerful best friend and find out what it was she was smiling so much about, even though Dana was always seen smiling wherever she went.

"Well, you sure look happy on such a cloudy day." Ben teased as he took off his headphones.

"Care to enlighten me." Ben stated as he leaned in closer to the table with his head resting on his hands as if he was a teenage girl wanting to hear the latest rumors.

"Only the best and biggest news ever, Ben. Trevor asked me out to the Halloween shindig." Dana confessed gleefully.

"Trevor? As in the skater Trevor?" Ben questioned in a confused demeanor. "But what about you and... 'Logan'?" He asked as he lip-synced the question and casually pointed to Logan, who was sitting with the group of Vortex Club members.

"Let's just say, that I've decided to go for someone a bit more mature." Dana answered as she made a gagging gesture when Ben mentioned the name of Logan.

"So you're going right?" Dana asked Ben with curiosity.

"Oh! I uh... haven't really thought about it yet." Ben confessed, leaning back in his seat with his hand behind his neck.

"What? Even 'Mr. Bigfoot' himself has to make an appearance. I can help you find a date if you still need one too." Dana brought up.

"Let me get back to on that one?" Ben said with a smirk on his face.

"Oh come on, 'Muscles'. It won't be hard for a guy like you to find someone to go with." Dana teased.

"Maybe I can put in a good word for you and talk to Scarlett on the cheer squad. I did see her eyeing you at the game last Friday against Portland Tech. Or how about Carly in our Statistics class?" Dana stated, coming up with a list of possible dates for Ben.

"Oh, Ben, what about..."

Just then, Kate walked into the lounge area looking down at the floor and trying to avoid eye contact with any of the Vortex Club members. She made her way over to a vacant round table that was on the other side of the room from where Ben and Dana were sitting. She placed her books on the table and began to work on her homework while trying not to acknowledge any of her surroundings.

"Oh, poor Kate." Dana said sadly as she could see how zoned out Kate looked.

"You didn't watch that video did you?" Ben asked Dana with concern.

"Only once... with Trevor this morning." Dana admitted.

"Dana!" Ben said as he was shocked to hear that she of all people would watch a video of one of her friends being filmed in an embarrassing situation.

"I know. It was wrong of me." Dana admitted. "I still don't know why Victoria would do something like that." She pondered.

"She just wants to prove that she's 'Queen Bee' around here, even if she has to drag other people down." Ben stated, almost feeling sorry for Victoria. "I still feel bad for Kate though. She's completely outnumbered by all of these jerks. I wish I was there to help her out at the party if I knew all of that bad shit was happening to her. Instead, I was in the VIP area doing keg stands and taking shots like an idiot." He confessed as he looked down at the table.

"Hey, you can't beat yourself up for something that wasn't your fault. Everybody just has to try to move on and forget about this." Dana reassured Ben. She reached out and touched his arm to help him chin up.

"How can everyone move on and forget when there's a whole website dedicated to that video?" Ben asked Dana.

"So this morning, I found out that all of those beautiful pictures I put up, which capture Kate's true image, were all taken down by someone." Victoria mentioned in a surprised tone, to her friends who sat with her at the couches.

"Yeah, not cool." Taylor added.

Ben could overhear the conversation and knew that his very actions from this morning were already acknowledged by Victoria.

"So my biggest question is, who's the kind of loser to do something like that?" Victoria questioned more loudly as if everyone in the student lounge was a suspect.

"I might have a pretty good idea Vic." Nathan jumped in, who was sitting next to Victoria.

Ben started to freeze for a brief moment. What if Nathan saw him rip off all of those pictures around campus and was going to rat him out. He'd then have to face Victoria and possibly other members of the Vortex Club interrogating him as to why he would do it. Regardless, he would be ready to face them and argue with them that picking on Kate Marsh was wrong.

"Hey, Juliet, you're a reporter aren't you?" Nathan asked Juliet Watson, the school reporter in charge of the Blackwell Totem, the school newspaper.

"Yes. What about it?" Juliet asked as she seemed confused at what Nathan was trying to ask.

"Oh, I don't know. Isn't it just that in the world of journalism, the people who always try to censor stuff are often the ones who don't want the truth to be exposed."

' _What are you getting at Nate?'_  Ben thought to himself.

"Someone like, say... I don't know. Kate Marsh." Nathan casually said.

' _Don't you even blame this on her, you bastard.'_  Ben then thought to himself.

Everyone circled around at the couches then turned their eyes to Kate, who was trying her best to ignore what everyone was saying.

"You? I guess it does makes sense now." Victoria stated as she got up out of her seat and made her way over to Kate.

Ben started to sense a red flag in this situation. He knew that things wouldn't end well. He already witnessed how cruel David was to Kate yesterday. But Victoria would make David look like Saint Peter compared to what she to what she would do to her.

"You took down all of those pictures, didn't you?" Victoria accused Kate.

"No, I... I didn't." Kate swore as she was sitting at the table while Victoria towered over her.

"Oh, just like how that wasn't you marking your territory on all those boys in that video." Victoria responded sarcastically in a nasty tone.

"Victoria, please. Just leave me alone." Kate pleaded as she got up from the table and attempted to bolt out of the room.

Victoria had grabbed Kate by her arm, making sure that she could leave. She had a cruel grin on her face at this point. She was enjoying every second of putting on a show in front of her friends and shaming Kate in a public place. Ben couldn't tolerate seeing any more of this. He didn't know Kate as well as Max did, or maybe even Dana, but there was something about her. He always saw her walking around campus and noticed how innocent and fragile she always looked. Ben figured that he might actually have a fighting chance to be the voice of reason and talk some since into his Vortex Club friends who were enjoying themselves.

"Admit it you little whore! Admit that you took down all of those photos because you didn't want anyone here at Blackwell to know what you're really like." Victoria demanded as she got up in Kate's face.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Ben shouted at Victoria as he shot up out of his seat.

There was a brief period of silence as everyone in the room had looked at him. Ben was outgoing and known for having such a distinct deep voice. He was always known to be loud and heard across the room at Vortex Club parties. But none of his friends had ever heard him raise his voice in such anger before.

"Woah, Big Ben, you good, bro?" Zach asked him trying to play the whole situation cool.

"I'm anything but good right now." Ben responded to his best friend and co-captain on the football team. "What happened to her at the party wasn't her fault guys."

"Did any of you stop to think to yourselves that maybe it could have been her first time drinking here on campus or even worse, that she might have been drugged that night and didn't even realize it?" He questioned out loud as made eye contact with Nathan. "Did any of you even think about helping her when she was in an embarrassing situation? Of course not, because all you guys ever do is look out for yourselves." He finally screamed.

The smiles of Ben's friends began to turn into blank faces of embarrassment and some of them even looked down at the floor trying not to look at Ben, who was upset with them. They knew deep down that he was right about what he was saying.

"And what do you have to say for yourself, Victoria?" Demanded Ben.

Victoria had released her grip of Kate's arm and was met by the gaze of not just her friends sitting down, but by Evan and Luke at the pool table and students who were popping in just to use the coffee machine in the lounge. Kate had stepped several steps away from Victoria and watched as Ben was sticking up for here for the second day in a row. Knowing that she wasn't going to go down like this, Victoria had made one last defensive maneuver against Ben.

"What's wrong Benji? Are you jealous that you weren't added to Kate's tongue count because you were too busy getting shitfaced on the dance floor per usual?" She asked in a teasing and fake sympathetic tone.

"Shut the hell up, Victoria." He retorted without even blinking.

"Excuse me?" She questioned Ben as she put her hands on her waist and raised one eyebrow at him.

"You obviously know what you did wrong. So I think you owe Kate an apology." Ben explained.

"For what?" Victoria asked rudely "Nobody pushed her tongue into everybody's mouth. I watched her Ben." She argued.

"Victoria, I'm being serious." Ben growled at Victoria. He was losing his patience and began to make his way over to her.

"And I'm being serious too." She replied with the same smirk on her face.

Ben was now standing a good five feet away from Victoria and near Nathan and the rest of the Vortex Club group. He was now provoked by Victoria's derogatory remarks directed at him and Kate. He was going to win this fight, even if he had to risk getting suspended or kicked off the football team.

"Dammit Victoria, you know I'm right. Kate isn't like that at all. She was drugged and Nathan had something to do with it." Ben asserted as he pointed at Nathan.

Everyone in the entire room was shocked at the wild accusation that Ben had just made. He remembered his talk with Max earlier today and that what she told him was supposed to be kept between the two of them. But that didn't matter right now, because he was going to press Nathan for the truth.

"Woah, haha, Ben, what the hell are you talking about, man?" Nathan asked him nonchalantly, trying to play the situation cool.

"Don't play dumb, Nate. You left the party with Kate, so you must have put something in her drink that night." Ben argued.

"What?" Taylor asked in shock.

"Nate, is that true?" Hayden questioned.

Kate looked confused as Ben made his statement in the room. How did he know about this too? And what kind of proof did he have to use against Nathan? She could have also affirmed it based on what she remembered that night, but she decided to stay quiet and just watch what would happen.

"I don't know about you guys, but I think Ben over here has had a few too many concussions at practice." Nathan joked.

Victoria and the other Vortex Club members began to chuckle at Nathan's remark.

Nathan continued to tease Ben. "Ben, you do know that they give you guys those shiny helmets for a reason..."

Ben pushed Nathan and knocked him down into his chair that he sat in before.

"Tell the truth right now, Nathan! Admit that you drugged Kate at the party." Ben demanded while pointing at him.

"Ferris, you are so fucking mental, dude!" Nathan shouted at him in reaction to being knocked down.

Before things got ugly, Logan Robertson, another teammate of Ben's, stood up to intervene between the two arguing, blocking Ben's way to Nathan.

"Yo, cool it bro!" Logan urged Ben. A few seconds after, Logan paused in his tracks and he made a dumb face where he dropped his jaw.

"Holy shit, I know what this is all about now." Logan said out loud for everyone to hear as if he had just solved a mystery. "This explains why she left the party with Nathan." He said pointing at Kate, who still didn't move.

"What the fuck are you talking about, Logan?" Ben asked in a confused yet annoyed tone.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about dude. You and Prescott where having a competition for the fake Jesus slut." He said, disrespectfully referring to Kate.

"You should obviously know that the nice guys always finish last, bro." He said getting into Ben's face.

Ben was fed up with this and pushed Logan out of his proximity, which did nothing but piss him off.

"Don't fucking touch me Ferris!" Logan shouted as he charged into Ben trying to take him down. Ben was able to hold out on his own for a while, until the two athletes collided into one of the unoccupied tables, both falling to the floor.

Kate had dealt with enough name calling and harassment for one day. And now, a student who she only met yesterday, was fighting to defend her integrity. She stormed out of the student lounge as fast as she could, where she could escape. She figured that she could be alone somewhere to cry to herself about every misfortune that happened to her since attending the party. Dana stood and watched as her best friend was wrestling with her ex-boyfriend. She knew that this wouldn't end well for either of the two boys and ran out of the room to find David Madsen to help break up the fight. Logan now had Ben pinned down to the floor, giving him the opportunity to deliver a couple of hits to him. He managed to get two hard punches right in his own captain's face before being pulled off of him by Zach and Hayden. Ben seemed to take the first punch like it was nothing but the second punch was a much harder hit to the left side of his face, causing him to stay down on the ground unconscious. All Ben was hoping to do during his hour of free time was to quietly get some homework done. Instead, he had intervened to stop a student he barely even knew from being bullied, freaked out on his own friends, and took a beating from his own teammate. It was quite the day at Blackwell for him so far.

* * *

"Alright, let's see how it looks now." said Anne Marie Barenchi, the school nurse, as she removed the ice pack that Ben was covering his left eye with. She then saw that the black eye that he walked into her office with wasn't looking any better.

"How's it look now?" Ben asked her with concern.

"Like you're going to need to keep icing it for another two more days." She answered. "How did this happen again?"

"My buddy didn't know I was behind him and he elbowed me in the face by accident." Ben told her. He knew that lying to her about the fight he got into was a risky move since she documents every visit that a student has to make to her office.

"Alright then." she said, not asking Ben for any more details about the incident. "Your vision from your eye is perfectly fine and there's no signs that you received a concussion so you should still be good for practice today." She then declared.

"Awesome, thanks." Ben said to her as he rushed to get out of the nurse's office before he would be interrogated by her again.

Ben wasn't worried about disclosing any details about the fight to the nurse because it would end up on his spotless record. He was more afraid of having to mention that it had to do with Kate Marsh. After all the attention she was getting regarding the video, Ben thought that her name being involved in today's episode could land her in trouble with Principal Wells and possibly get her suspended or worse. All he needed to do was play things cool for the next few days until no one would be talking about the fight anymore, while avoiding some of Blackwell's authority figures. Suddenly the later wasn't even possible anymore as Ben had ran into David Madsen in the hallway.

"Well, if it isn't Muhammed Ali." David stated sarcastically at Ben, referring to the fight. He observed Ben's black eye and was brought back to the memory of him helping the unconscious boy from the floor, which only happened an hour ago.

"Oh, hey. What's up Mad-Dawg?" Ben greeted to the security guard in the most unprofessional manner.

"That's Mr. Madsen." He corrected him in an uptight response. "You've got some nerve talking to me after that episode involving Kate Marsh yesterday." He said with a hard-nosed look on his face.

"But why am I not surprised? You Vortex Club punks always have to look out for each other anyway." He commented.

"What makes you say that? Kate's not even in the Vortex Club." Ben stated confused as to what David was trying to say.

"Look, all I'm trying to say is that you stepped in between us at a pretty bad time. She's another matter entirely." David mentioned.

"But Kate hasn't done anything wrong." Ben argued.

"Ben, this isn't just about Kate Marsh. My concern is for the safety of all Blackwell students. Including you." David stressed to Ben hoping he would understand. "Look, you should get to class soon. And just so you know, I've already sent a written report of the fight today to Principal Wells."

"Of you course you did. Thanks 'step-douche', now my Dad gets to tear me, Logan, and everyone else on the team a new one at practice today ." Ben thought to himself.

"Ben, over here." He heard a voice call for him. He saw that it was Courtney Wagner, Victoria's second best friend after Taylor, who was sitting at a table in the school's hallway. She was putting together a guest list for the next Vortex Club party.

"Oh hey, what's up Courtney?" Ben asked.

"Ouch. A black eye for sticking up for Kate Marsh? Not worth it if you ask me." She commented observing Ben's left eye. "Anyways, I'm putting together the guest list for the Vortex Club's "End of the World Party" for this Thursday. Want me to add you to the list?"

"Definitely! I need to let loose after how crazy things got today." Ben replied.

"Awesome! I'll add you to the list right now." She said.

"Thanks Courtney. Later." He said.

"No problem. Hope your eye gets better before Thursday night." She added sincerely.

As he began to walk down the hall to his Science class, Ben had ran into Max, who was just finished talking to David about something, and was making her way to her Art of Photography class with Mr. Jefferson.

"What's up Max?" Ben said.

"Hey Ben. Oh man, first Warren and now you. What happened to your eye?" Max asked with concern as she looked at his eye.

"Got in a scuffle fighting for Kate's honor today." Ben brought up. "What happened to Warren?"

"Again? Maybe you should start dressing up as a vigilante." Max joked. "As for Warren, you should ask your friend, Nathan about that."

"So, how was your day with Chloe?" Ben asked.

"Well, after we grabbed food at the Two Whales, things got pretty crazy when we..."

Before Max finished her sentence, she and Ben both stopped in their tracks as they saw a distraught Kate talking to Mr. Jefferson outside of his classroom.

"Stop being so dramatic!" Mr. Jefferson said harshly to Kate.

"Being on a viral video does that." Kate cried.

"Maybe, this is your way of getting attention." He rudely theorized.

"That's really mean, Mr. Jefferson. You just don't get it... Just leave me alone!" She demanded.

"You have to talk to me, Kate." He urged, sounding like he wanted to help her all of a sudden.

"Why? It's all over...like me." She lamented.

"Knock off this martyr crap." He bluntly implored her.

"Well then what do you want from me?" She begged.

"I want you to be honest." He demanded

"Nobody believes me anyway... So you can't help me either?" She sadly explained.

"I'm trying. But you have to understand my position..." He clarified.

"Why? You don't understand mine. Nobody does...nobody..." Kate argued. She began to bawl as her eyes looked hazy and she walked away with her head down.

Max approached Kate to try and comfort her. "Kate is everything ok..."

"Just go away!" Kate shouted as she brushed between Max and Ben.

"What was that all about?" Ben wondered.

"I don't know. Mr. Jefferson would have a better idea." Max said.

The two walked up to their teacher to ask him a few questions and find out what had happened with Kate.

"Hey Ben. Max. How are you two doing?" Mr. Jefferson asked, greeting his two fellow students.

"Hey, Mr. Jefferson. Sorry to bother you." Ben said genuinely.

"I'm only bothered when people, like Max, avoid turning in photos. But you know this already, Max." Jefferson joked.

"So, what can I do for you two?" He asked.

"Well, just between the three of us, Ben and I are worried about Kate Marsh." Max expressed.

"That's no secret. Word on the street Ben, is that you and Kate had a little confrontation with our security chief yesterday." Jefferson brought up.

"I only stepped in between David Madsen because he was barking all up in Kate's face about something... She doesn't deserve that." Ben argued.

"Of course not. Mr. Madsen isn't the most gentle soul. Do you have proof he instigated the situation?" Mr. Jefferson questioned Ben.

"What? My own word isn't good enough? What was I supposed to do, record the whole thing on my phone?" Ben said, feeling completely upset that Jefferson didn't believe him.

"Always take the shot. My number one rule of photography. And Ben, I assure you this matter is being discussed by the faculty." He told Ben. "I assume you both know about this viral video?"

"Yeah, and Kate's freaked out by all of this... She can't even do her homework while she's being tormented in public on a daily basis." Ben testified, referring to the entire scene that occurred in the student lounge.

"What if Kate brought this on herself? She means well, but maybe she doth protest too much... She seems like she's holding back the truth." Jefferson claimed.

"Mr. Jefferson, how can you even say something like that?" Ben questioned him, with a look of disgust on his face.

"Well, have either of you talked to her?" He asked.

"Yes, I talked to her on the phone today. She needs friends and support right now. I just don't want Kate Marsh to become the next Rachel Amber." Max expressed to Jefferson.

Mr. Jefferson's eyes widened at the mention of this name before he questioned Max. "Rachel Amber? What does she have to do with Kate?"

"With all her 'Missing Persons' posters around, it's hard not to think of her." Max stated.

"I miss Rachel, too. But think about yourself, Max. Principal Wells told me about what you said happened in the bathroom." Jefferson brought up.

"It did happen. Nathan Prescott had a gun in the girls' bathroom yesterday." Max bickered with the teacher.

"This is a serious accusation, Max." Jefferson scolded.

"So, you don't believe me? I would never make something like this up." Max pleaded.

"I hope so, Max. But it's easy to point fingers" Jefferson mentioned.

Ben decided to jumped in as he felt that the conversation was now going off topic. "Listen, should we...?"

Just before Ben could ask his question. A ringtone from someone's phone went off, only for it to be Jefferson's. He pulled the phone out of his pocket from his blazer to answer the call.

"Excuse me, guys." He addressed to Ben and Max before answering his phone.

"Hello? Yes? Uh...hold on. I have to take this, so just go into class and I'll be there soon." Jefferson instructed Max. She walked into the classroom. "Ben, I'm sure that you have a class to be in right now too." He reminded Ben.

Ben entered his science class on the other side of the hall, across from Mr. Jefferson's classroom. As he made his way to his seat he greeted Warren who always sat next to him.

"'Warren White', the man!" Ben shouted to Warren, calling him by the nickname he gave him.

"'Ben Pinkman'! What happened to you?" Warren asked as he pointed at Ben's black eye.

"Logan Robertson. You?"

"Nathan Prescott, from yesterday. He tried to strangle Max yesterday in the parking lot and he beat me down when I got in between them." Warren explained.

"Well, at least you tried to stop it." Ben stated as he admired Warren's heroism.

"Yeah, I'd do anything to help one of my own friends. Anyway, you ready to blow some shit up in lab today?" Warren asked him with excitement.

"Wait, it's lab day?" Ben asked with a worried look on his face.

"Yeah, dude. Every Tuesday's been lab day in this class since week one." Warren reminded him.

"Shit! The one day I leave my safety goggles in my room." Ben said.

"Look, Warren, I have run back to my room real quick. I know Ms. Grant is gonna kill me for being late to lab, but just tell her I'm coming back." Ben told him.

"No worries, man. I've always got your back." Warren reassured him.

"Thanks bud, I'm glad I can count on you." Ben said happily as he ran out of the room.

"Ben! Where are you going? Class has started." Ms. Grant called out after him.

Ben left the main building and made his way back to the dormitories. He forgot to grab his jacket from his locker, so he would now have to pay the price of coming back to class soaked from the heavy rainfall. As he continued to walk the path to the dormitory, he stopped walking as he saw David Madsen hiding behind a tree with a photo camera. As he tried to look in the security guard's direction to see what exactly he was taking pictures of, he was alarmed to see that he was snapping photos of Kate walking by herself in the pouring rain. Ben was only confused as to what the man was doing as well as why he was doing it. Was he some kind of sick pervert? Was he that suspicious of Kate and keeping close tabs on her? Maybe it had something to do with how he thought Kate was a member of the Vortex Club. Maybe this whole time, David was actually a narc, who disguised himself as a security guard at Blackwell and wanted to crack down on who was supplying Nathan with so many drugs. Ben then concluded that maybe he had just watched the movie  _21 Jump Street_  too many times as his last theory was a bit of a stretch. Either way, Ben kept his distance from David and tried to sneak his way back to his dorm room to grab his goggles and head back to class. The last thing he needed today was to be caught and suspected of skipping class.

* * *

Ben had made his way back to the dormitories and entered the boy's floor, where he went to his room and found his safety goggles. They were sitting right on his desk. "Smooth move, Ben." He said to himself.

Since Ben was still in the building, he figured that he would head upstairs to the second floor, the girls' floor, and see if Kate was there. She entered the dorm shortly before he did, and Ben figured that maybe she just needed someone understanding to talk to or just a shoulder to cry on. Besides, how could Ms. Grant yell at him for being late for doing something so selfless like that? Ben entered through the door leading to the girls' floor, he was familiar with this floor as he had often hung out in Victoria and Dana's rooms. He made his way down the hallway, carefully examining each room's slate, to see which room Kate lived in. He then checked the slate of a room that was the second to last on the left side of the hall. It had a biblical passage written on it. This was definitely Kate's room. He knocked on the door, hoping to hear a response.

"Um, Kate?" Ben called.

"Kate?" He called again as he knocked a few more times.

"It's Ben, from yesterday." He said.

"I just wanted to know if you were alright." He expressed.

Still no answer. Maybe she decided to go to sleep and didn't feel like answering the door. Ben still felt worried about her though. About what Nathan could have done to her the night of the party. How David had intimidated her yesterday. How Victoria posted that video along with all of those pictures around campus and even attacking her in the student lounge. How insensitive Mr. Jefferson was towards her, which caused her to run away. There was no way that she deserved any of that to happen to her. Ben was about to give up on trying to get her to come out of her room until he had actually read what was written on her slate.

**_"_ ** **_Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." –Matthew 11:28_ **

Ben was then alarmed at what he read next underneath the scripture.

**_Hope you all you enjoyed watching me and taking pictures of my body._ **

"Oh my God. It's a suicide note." Ben said as he dropped his goggles out of his hand in shock.

How could everything come this? Kate Marsh, the sweetest girl at Blackwell, who would never mean any harm to anyone, was bullied by so many people that she was driven to suicide. Ben was frozen until he could hear voices coming from outside that shook him out of his trance.

"Bitch flipped out." He heard someone shout from outside. To his wonder, Ben walked over to look outside of the window to see a mass of students standing outside of the dorm. They were all looking up at something in the sky.

"I didn't think she was that messed up." He heard another voice say from outside.

That could have only meant that Kate was on the roof of the dorm. She was up on that roof ready to jump in front of all of those students down there. Some of them, like Dana and Juliet, were watching in horror. Others like Victoria and Taylor had their phones out to take pictures or videos of it all.

"No... no she can't do this to herself... not like this." Ben panicked frantically. His heart began to race. He threw his backpack off of his shoulders and ran to the stairway at the end of the hall. He then charged up the stairs to get to the roof. "I need... to save... Kate... Marsh." He said to himself as he sprinted up every step.

Ben used his momentum and body weight to bust open the door leading to the roof. He found himself out in the heavy rain again, now standing on the roof with Kate, only to see her all the way on the ledge of the roof.

"Kate..." Ben tried to shout, but there were no words that projected from his voice. He was out of breath and panting from running up those flights of stairs. Kate was startled when she heard the sound of heavy breathing behind her, she turned around only to see that it was Ben looking at her while he gasped for air.

"Ben?" Kate asked in confusion.

"Kate. I'm... here." Ben spoke as he slowly began to recollect oxygen again.

"What are you doing here, Ben?" She questioned.

"Kate, this isn't the way..." He pleaded.

"Stop! Don't come near me!" Kate warned as she took a step back on the ledge.

"Kate, please." Ben cried out, not wanting to see her take her own life. He began to take slow steps towards Kate against her wishes.

"Ben, seriously, don't come near me. I will jump." Kate threatened.

"Okay, Okay. I'm right here, Kate. Just please talk to me at least." Ben said nervously. His legs began to tremble as he stood where he was.

"Oh Ben, I can see that you want to help me... I love that you stepped up to David and Victoria just for me, but it doesn't matter now. Nothing matters." Kate said sadly.

"That's not true Kate. You do matter. And not just to me. But to Max too." Ben implored.

"I do want to believe that..." She replied.

"Kate, I'm here for you. And we can get through this together, so let me help you. Like Max helped you by erasing that link to the video in the girl's bathroom." Ben added.

"She did? I'm so glad to hear that Max worries about me... That makes me feel better..." She replied as she felt a bit more hopeful.

"Of course she worries about you. She's your friend, Kate." He stated.

"I did feel better talking to her on the phone today. I always feel like she really listens." Kate brought up, letting out a short smile.

"Kate, please trust me. Just come down from that ledge and stand by me, okay? I can help you and I know I can." Ben begged her as his eyes began to tear up. "I was the one who tore down all of those photos of you that Victoria put up. She had no right to do that to you." He declared. He now had tears rolling down his face from admitting to Kate how far he went to help her.

"That was you? Are you serious? Thank you so much!" Kate said, expressing her gratitude as she began to cry in relief. "The fact that you don't care about that video and would come up here to stop me means a lot."

"I care about you because unlike everyone else, I believe that you were drugged. That's why I accused Nathan today. And I'll help you make sure that he doesn't get away this." Ben promised.

Kate began to ponder before speaking. "You sound so persuasive, Ben... If only..."

"Kate, I believe you. Now, will you believe me?" Ben questioned. "Please...you don't have to do this..."

"Ben, I'm in a nightmare and I can't wake up...unless I put myself to sleep. Then everybody at Blackwell can post pics of my body; I'm already on the internet forever. No wonder they call it a 'web'; nothing can ever get out. Like my video... I wish I could go back in time and erase everything..." Kate cried out in anguish.

"Kate, this is your chance to beat the bullies. To show them that you're Kate Marsh and you're stronger than they think. That's the only way you can win against them." He argued.

"Can I really, Ben? I don't believe in miracles anymore either." She claimed.

"Neither do I. But if you come down with me, I might actually have a reason to start believing." He confessed.

"You're such a good person, Ben. Even if you are part of the Vortex Club. But I'll come with you. Even if I have only known you since yesterday, you've been so kind to me." Kate admitted to Ben.

"Sure, can we just shake hands now or hug things out?" Ben asked as he offered his hand out to her.

"No...nobody cares about me...nobody..." Kate yelled, taking a step back from Ben, declining his heartfelt gesture.

"Do you have any family back at home? I know that I'm an only child, but do you have any brothers or sisters. I'm sure that they care about you." He brought up. He hoped that Kate had happier memories with her family that could convince her to come down from the ledge and continue to live her life.

"Yes, I do. My Dad cares... even though I hurt him. He's actually the only one who believes me." She mentioned as she thought back to the postcard her father sent her. "And I have two younger sisters. The youngest one's name is Lynn. She's only ten... and she does have the best smile ever... I would hate to see her sad." She added as she thought about the joyous memories of her sisters.

"See, if Lynn was here, you would know what to do. So just step towards me, okay? This isn't the end, Kate. I'm not really religious, but I'm pretty sure that God has a plan for everyone, including you." Ben declared

"Nice try, Ben. But God put me on this roof." Kate shouted as she stood her ground, and refused to walk towards him.

' _What was that verse on her white board again? Matthew 11:28?'_  Ben thought to himself, hoping it would inspire her.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Ben recited. For some reason, that passage was still stuck in his head from when he had read it outside Kate's room.

"'Matthew 11:28'... I can't believe you quoted one of my favorite passages..." Kate cried out feeling a sense of faith.

"I wasn't lying. I do care about you. I know that passage must mean a lot to you. It was written on your suicide note." Ben mentioned.

Ben decided to try one more time and extended his arm out to Kate, offering his hand to her. He looked deep into her puffy hazel eyes, waiting for her to accept his gesture. After a brief moment of hesitation, Kate took his hand and he pulled her towards him. The two had both fallen to their knees on the roof and Ben wrapped his arms around Kate to comfort her and let her know that she would be alright.

"I'm sorry...sorry..." Kate wept as she buried her face into Ben's chest. He felt his shirt begin to soak with her tears and the rain that was on her face.

"Shhh, you don't need to apologize for anything. It's the people down there that do." Ben whispered to her as he could hear his own voice start to choke. He began to close his eyes as he felt tears coming down his cheeks and the rain hitting against his face.

* * *

Moments later, both Ben and Kate had made their way down the stairs of the dormitory as Ben had both of his arms around Kate. As they walked out of the main entrance of the building, the two were welcomed by the faces of David Madsen and all of their fellow classmates, cheering on both of them for coming down the roof together. Ben paid no attention to any of the students around him. He only looked at Kate, whose eyes were still puffy from crying. Ben was at a loss for words of what to even ask her. She had tried to kill herself and he was still surprised in himself at how he managed to save her life and her soul. Just as they tried to distance their selves from everyone around them, the two were approached by a group of paramedics who collected Kate and escorted her to a nearby ambulance parked on the grass lawn. A police officer, had thanked Ben for what he had done and directed him and everyone else to keep their distance while the paramedics had examined Kate in the ambulance. Shortly after, the ambulance had driven with off Kate, leaving Blackwell to have her escorted to the hospital. All of the student's had gathered around Ben, shaking him and hugging him for going up on the roof to talk Kate down. They eventually crowded together and lifted him up in the air as if he had just scored a game winning touchdown for the football team. He was completely in a trance and didn't move a single muscle in his body, still trying to process everything that had occurred up on that roof.

"What just happened?" He asked himself.

It wasn't long until all of the students were told by Principal Wells and their teachers to report back to their classes. Ben was back inside of the main academic building with everyone else. He had stood at his locker in the hallway, not moving at all and just stared deeply inside his locker as if he was trying to find something even though it wasn't there. His right hand was tightly griped on the door of his locker.

"Is he okay?" Courtney had asked, as she stood down the hall from Ben along with Victoria and Taylor.

"He's just been standing there for almost ten minutes now." Taylor commented sounding almost worried about him.

"I can only imagine what's going through his mind now after what he just experienced." Courtney stated.

"I'll go talk to him." Victoria spoke up as she walked over to Ben.

"Hi Ben." Victoria said calmly. Ben didn't even acknowledge her. He just continued to look inside his locker. "That was really brave what you did for Kate up on the roof." She commented trying to praise him. "I know that you're probably still shaken up about what happened up there, but I just wanted to let you know that we're all proud of you. And, you can talk to me if you ever need anything..."

Ben slammed his locker door shut with all of his force after hearing Victoria speak. Victoria had jumped back and everyone else in the hallway was startled as the slamming noise left off a loud echo.

"You... are the last person... that I even want to talk to right now". Ben said to Victoria in a bitter tone. He turned to face her and had the most enraged look in his eyes. Both of his eyes still looked bloodshot and glassy from crying with Kate up on the roof. His black eye that he had gotten earlier today only gave him more of a crazed appearance.

"Ben, just calm down. Okay?" Victoria pleaded to him as she began to feel nervous in his presence.

"You want me to calm down after Kate Marsh tried to kill herself?" He screamed in her face, getting everyone's attention in the hallway. No one could even look away at what was currently going on between the two.

"Everything... EVERYTHING, that happened today... is all your fault, Victoria." Ben growled at her, not even taking his deathly stare off her once.

"It was all just a joke. I didn't think Kate would actually..." Victoria tried to explain.

"You didn't think she would actually what? Take her own life? After all of the lies, name calling, and slut shaming that you put her through?" Ben screamed, making Victoria feel even more uncomfortable about herself. "She never did anything to you. And I even saw you try to take one last video of her while she was on the roof." He added. A couple of students near Ben and Victoria all looked at her in shock from what Ben just mentioned.

"I deleted that from my phone. And I took down the viral video of her at the party from the website." Victoria confessed.

"And you think that suddenly fixes everything?" Ben briefly laughed to himself. "You know, I'm really glad that I got to see your true colors today. Because all I feel right now is regret, knowing that I even slept with such... filth like you." Ben asserted as he crossed a line.

Victoria slapped Ben right across his face for going that far. Her eyes began to water. She had only intended to help him since they were friends, but she was furious that Ben had even dared to strike a nerve like that.

"This is for you, Kate." Ben said to himself. He then raised one of his hands up at Victoria, nearly about to strike her right back.

"Mr. Ferris!" Someone shouted from behind Ben from down the hall.

Ben lowered his hand and turned around to see that it was none other than Principal Wells, with a stern look on his face and both of his hands behind his back.

"My office. Now!" He demanded at Ben.

Ben simply walked away from Victoria, knowing that she wasn't even worth his time. He now had bigger problems to deal with as he was about to be in the Principal's office for the first time.

"Time to face the music." He mumbled to himself.

Ben walked into the office, just before Principal Wells entered and closed the door behind them. He was surprised to see that the room was also occupied by Nathan, David Madsen, and Mr. Jefferson, all looking right at him. This couldn't be good.

"Please, take a seat, Mr. Ferris." Principal Wells ordered Ben. Ben approached the empty chair that was right next to the one Nathan was sitting in.

"Now, I know today was difficult for everybody, but I'm so proud of the way Blackwell pulled together to save a young girl's life. Of course, you're quite a hero for getting Kate to come down, Ben." Principal Wells spoke, commending Ben.

"It was just the right thing to do." Ben said humbly as he looked down at the floor.

"He's modest. Like a real hero." Mr. Jefferson commented.

"Yeah. 'Real Hero.'" David said under his breath sarcastically.

"As principal of Blackwell Academy, I take my duties seriously. I even take the well-being of every student more seriously. What happened today should never take place in a hall of wisdom and knowledge." Wells addressed.

"Mr. Madsen, as our head of security here, those roof doors should always be locked. That's just standard operating procedure. They were not. And that is indeed your responsibility." He told David as if it was something he shouldn't have had to.

"Mr. Jefferson, I know you can't be expected to know what your students are going through, but Kate has assisted you in class, so you should've known something was amiss." Wells said as he reproved the teacher.

"Mr. Prescott, since you are responsible for the Vortex Club parties, and since Miss Marsh did attend your last party, you'll have to answer some more questions." He told Nathan, who had a smug look on his face.

Nathan looked right next to Ben and remembered how he had accused him in the student lounge earlier today of drugging Kate at that party. He was actually hoping that Ben would keep his mouth shut this time. He was more confused as to why Ben, who was his own friend, would even turn on him like that.

Principal Wells pulled out his cushioned chair from his desk and began to sit down as he now addressed Ben.

"Mr. Ferris, why exactly were you on the roof with Kate Marsh? Did she tell you her plan? Or anything at all? Please, tell us everything." He bombarded Ben with several questions as he placed his hands together waiting to hear an answer from him.

What could Ben even say to him? There were three people in this room right now, that each had something to do with Kate's attempted suicide. Nathan had to have drugged her at the party, and it could only explain how Kate acted in that video. If Ben threw him under the bus, then Nathan would probably try to make the rest of his year at Blackwell as miserable as he possibly could. On the other hand, David had bullied Kate yesterday, which was completely uncalled for. It was definitely something that Principal Wells needed to know about. But then, maybe Mr. Jefferson was right about taking the shot and getting a photo of the incident as evidence. Plus, things could backfire as David could use his position to bend the truth about what happened and he might possibly bring up the fight between Ben and Logan and use that against him as well. Finally, there was Mr. Jefferson who made Kate cry today. Jefferson was such a cool guy to Ben since he had him for class, but he also couldn't believe how insensitive he was towards Kate when she went to him for help. Then again, if he used that against him, it would probably be a really awkward independent study for Ben and Jefferson to work on together. So who could he report to Wells? Someone had to answer for what happened today, and Ben wanted to make sure that Kate would be able sleep a lot safer tonight.

"All I know is that Kate was at our last party and Nathan dosed her." Ben said confidently. The four individuals in the room each looked at Ben as he made his statement.

"She got completely plastered and ended up kissing a bunch of dudes on a viral video without a clue." He added as he looked Nathan in the eye.

"Ha, I dosed her? Without a clue? Have you seen the video, Ferris? Whatever." Nathan laughed, as if Ben had no idea what he was even talking about.

"Kate was loaded and playing the field..." Nathan calmly said with the same smug look on his face.

"You're lying, Nate! You left the party early because you told Kate that you would take her to the emergency room!" He argued, referencing what Max had told him.

"Yeah, I said I was GOING to take her to the ER. She sobered up eventually." Nathan proclaimed.

"You're really full of shit, you know that? Something happened to her and you were involved. You're obviously hiding something, Nathan. Just like how you were waving a gun around in the girls' bathroom, yesterday. Or how you attacked Max Caulfield and Warren Graham in the parking lot." Ben declared angrily as he included the alibis of Max, Chloe, and even Warren.

"Hey! That's total slander, Ferris! I could sue you and this entire school so fast!" Nathan yelled at Ben in his defense. "I already have a personal lawyer." He added trying to scare Ben.

"Careful, Mr. Prescott. I'll have you know that Mr. Ferris is not the first student to bring up this alleged gun incident." Principal Wells interjected. "And I have to admit that the video in question was sent to me by multiple sources."

"Including me." Said David, jumping into the conversation.

"And since Mr. Prescott does appear prominently in the video and was responsible for the party, I have no choice but to suspend him until further notice." Wells decided.

"Whatever. See you in court." Nathan remarked, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration.

"Excuse me, but I think Ben and Nathan need a break before we grill them further. A friend and student just tried to kill herself... They don't need this forum right now." Mr Jefferson suggested.

"Yes, I'm kinda devastated right now. I'd like to be with my family." Nathan said in a deadpan and sarcastic tone.

"Alright, Mr. Ferris, please sign here to confirm what you've told us. I'll continue this investigation from there." Wells said as he slid a white document to Ben and handed him a pen to give his signature.

* * *

The rain had cleared up long after Kate had left in the ambulance. Students were outside sitting and conversing with each other about how they witnessed Ben walk down the building with Kate. Not only was he a football captain and one of the more notable members of the Vortex Club, but he was now being referred to as the hero of Blackwell. "Super-Ben" as they were beginning to call him. But where exactly was Ben after all of this? Holed up in his room, surprisingly.

Ben sat on his couch, looking out of the window, right after putting on 10cc's  _I'm Not in Love_  on his record player. He felt calmer and relaxed knowing that Kate would be alright and that Nathan Prescott got what he deserved today. He still didn't know what had drove him to almost hit Victoria, but he figured that it was best if he kept his distance from her for the next few days. He was then alerted by a knock on his door, which he had left open. He turned around to see that it was Dana with an ice pack in her hand.

"I thought you could use this for your eye." She said as she walked over to him placing the ice pack on his left eye for him.

"Ah, cold." Ben said as he jolted and took the ice-pack from her.

"How are you feeling now?" Dana asked with concern.

"Better, knowing that she'll be okay." He said with a slight smile on his face.

"I just wish I could have been a better friend to her. I can't even believe she would even attempt suicide." Dana said sadly.

"I think all of us were responsible for what happened." Ben said to her.

"True. But you're the only one who went up to that roof with Kate. And she'll never forget that." Dana brought up to compliment Ben.

"Yeah. I guess so." Ben said softly as tears began to run down his face. Dana wiped one of the tears off of his cheek before she walked out of his room.

"You gonna be okay?" Dana asked him as she stood in the doorway.

"Yeah. I think I just need some time alone is all." Ben answered truthfully.

"Alright! My door's always open if you wanna talk." She reminded him before heading back to her room.

Ben looked at his phone, trying to avoid social media since everyone's tweets and posts would involve him and Kate. He checked his messages to see that he had one sent from Chloe.

**_Chloe:_ **

**_Sorry about Kate. I hope you're ok._ **

He was surprised to see that he also had two from his parents.

**_Dad:_ **

**_Heard about what you did for that girl on the roof today from the faculty, and the kids on the team. Can't even express how truly proud of you I am. I know it must be really hard to not think about what you must have experienced, so why don't you take it easy for the rest of the day. See you at practice tomorrow._ **

**_Mom:_ **

**_Just read a news article online about how my son is a hero at his own school. That was so courageous and selfless how you walked down the building with that girl. She must be so grateful that someone like you came to help her. Beyond proud of you, Benji!_ **

As Ben read the two messages from his parents, he put away his phone and began to cry to himself. He wasn't sad or angry though. He was reminded of earlier today, when he had asked Kate about her family and how she talked about her parents and her sisters. Ben might have been an only child with parents who were separated and couldn't even be in the same room with each other, but deep down, he knew that both of them still raised him to always do the right thing. And today, he truly did.

"Thanks Mom and Dad!" Ben said to himself as he stared out the window of his room, still misty-eyed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter sure was a wild ride to say the least! I really wanted to tell Kate's entire story from the very beginning of the day, hence why this was also the longest chapter yet. I wanted it to mostly be in Ben's perspective to show how a stranger can simply help save a life by just listening and paying attention to the smallest details and being there for that person. In the next chapter, we'll see how Ben and everyone else at Blackwell will react to the aftermath of Kate's attempted suicide. Don't forget to leave a comment and kudos if you're enjoying this story and to let me know what you think.


	7. Faith Restored

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How exactly does everyone at Blackwell react after the events of Kate's attempted suicide? And how are Ben and Kate brought together once again by the being on the roof. Find out in the latest chapter. 
> 
> WARNING: Contains some strong language and a couple of sexual themes.

As Kate's eyes began to open, she looked around the white hospital room to see that it was now a bright and sunny Wednesday morning. There were some flowers sitting on a nightstand and a couple of balloons with the words "Get Well" on them tied around her bed. As she was beginning to wake up, she had thought back to everything that had occurred after coming down from the roof.

Kate remembered being escorted by the two paramedics to an ambulance after walking down to the first floor of the dormitory building with Ben. They had both sat her down inside of the vehicle, questioning and inspecting her to see if she had any signs of trauma, before driving her to the hospital. Once she had arrived, she got to change into her favorite pair of pajamas, the white top with the flowery design on the center, and the turquoise bottoms. Her face was also clean of any makeup that she usually wore and her eyes no longer looked puffy. She had shown her natural beauty. After she was settled into her room and tried to make herself comfortable in the hospital bed, a doctor had walked into the room Kate was in. She was a young woman, most likely in her late 20s, with dark brunette hair that was tied back into a bun that was smaller than Kate's, and wore a white coat over her scrubs. She was there to ask Kate a couple of questions to understand the incident that occurred at Blackwell and see how Kate currently felt. She sat down in a chair near Kate's bed and smiled at her before introducing herself.

"Hi, Kate. My name is Dr. Young. But you can me Penny. I'm one of the Clinical Psychologists here at Arcadia Bay General. I'd just like to ask you some questions for an assessment and by the time you know it, I'll be gone to let you get some rest." The young doctor stated.

"Hi, Penny. That sounds great." Kate replied as she smiled back at her.

"Perfect! How about we start with who you are by giving me a brief introduction of yourself." Penny instructed.

"Okay. My name is Kate Marsh, I'm 18 years old, and I'm an Art student at Blackwell Academy." Kate politely told Penny.

"And are you involved in any extracurricular activities at Blackwell, Kate?" Penny asked next as she began writing down information on a document attached to her clipboard.

"Yes. I'm in charge of the Meals on Wheels program at my school, which is a volunteer organization that provides warm food to the homeless. I also lead the Bible Study Group, which is part of Blackwell's different religious studies groups. On my free time I like to draw animals and cartoon characters, play the violin, and spend time with my pet rabbit, Alice." Kate answered.

"Meals on Wheels. Actually, I think I once saw you on the channel 7 news about that. I thought you looked familiar. And I'm sure you must enjoy Bible Study. I myself am a practicing Christian too." Penny had mentioned.

"So it's good to know that you're very busy outside of class. Do you think you can tell me what had caused you to climb up to the roof of your dorm today?" Penny then asked.

Kate began to look down at her hands, feeling reluctant to give an answer.

"It's okay. Nothing that you tell me will leave this room." She promised.

"Well, since the school year started, some of the other students at Blackwell would bully me in class and in my dorm because I'm still a virgin and I practice abstinence. I even advocate a small abstinence campaign and some of the other students vandalized the posters that I would make." Kate shared with the doctor. "And just last weekend, I went to a party for the first time, and after I had one sip of wine, I didn't remember anything that had happened. The next thing I knew, I was on a viral video that showed me kissing several people I never met before. People kept talking about the video and bullying me for it and that was what led me to go on the roof and try to..." Kate didn't feel comfortable finishing her sentence. She almost felt like crying again but she felt like she had cried so much in the past several days that her body barely had any water left to produce tears.

"I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope that officials at your school are addressing the situation with the video." Penny said to Kate sincerely.

"And I just want you to know that there's nothing wrong with practicing abstinence, and don't let those bullies tell you otherwise." She said encouragingly to Kate, pointing her pen at her.

"I also made the pledge to stay abstinent when I was a little girl, and people at school always made fun of me for it too, even when I was in college. But now, God blessed me with being engaged to a wonderful man, and I'll be getting married in the spring. So don't worry, your time will come too." She proudly told Kate, as she showed her the engagement ring on her left hand.

"I heard from one of the EMTs that you did have some friends who looked out for you though." Penny brought up.

"Oh, yes. My friend Max erased all of the mean things that people wrote on my room slate, including the link to that video which someone wrote on the girls' bathroom mirror. She even talked to me on the phone earlier today which made me feel better." Kate mentioned.

"Well, that was very nice of her." Penny expressed, knowing that Kate had someone who cared for her.

"And Ben was the one who talked to me on the roof and convinced me to come down with him." Kate stated happily as she sat in her bed with her hands clasped.

"I actually just saw a news article about that. That was so kind and noble of him." Penny commented.

"Is he also your friend?" She asked with interest.

"Oh. Yes... I mean, not really but... I actually just met him yesterday." Kate answered.

"Oh. Really?" Penny asked with a slight smirk on her face as she jotted down more notes.

"Yes. Why, what's wrong?" Kate asked unsure of what the young doctor's response to her answer was for.

"Oh, Nothing." Penny simply replied. "Well, that basically wraps up the assessment, Kate. I noticed how you said that you couldn't remember anything the night of the party, so I think we should have you take a drug test to see if we find a sample of anything in your system." She explained as she stood up and started to walk over to the door.

"And Kate, promise me that you'll stay away from alcohol, please. I know I'm not a cop, but you are still under aged after all. And please make sure that you'll talk to someone in the future if you ever feel depressed or have suicidal thoughts. Promise me that too, okay?" She stressed to Kate.

"I promise. Thank you, Penny!" Kate replied as she smiled at the kind and caring doctor.

"Great. Now why don't I talk to one of the nurses to see if they can get some pen and paper for you to do some drawings?" Penny mentioned, remembering that Kate said how she loved to draw.

"Yes please." Kate replied. She smiled as Penny had closed the door to Kate's room. She looked out of the window and admired the view of the sunset as she began to slowly close her eyes and fall asleep.

That was the most sleep that Kate had gotten in the past few days. She was feeling so much better after her conversation on the phone with Max, trusting Ben to come down from the roof, and talking with Penny yesterday. Those three people had helped restore her faith. And for the first time this week, she truly felt blessed.

One of the nurses came to Kate's room to bring her breakfast, a plate with scrambled eggs, two slices of bacon, and home fries, along with a slice of toast, a bowl of diced fruit, and a cup of yogurt. After she had eaten, she decided to get out of her bed and create some drawings with the colored pens and paper she had been given. She felt that some of her doodles were a bit too macabre at first. She was most likely still processing thoughts from the past few days that were in her head. Just a couple of moments later, Kate was met by her first two visitors that walked in with a nurse.

"You've got some visitors here to see you, sweetie." The nurse told Kate as she opened the door to let in Stella and Alyssa, two of Kate's best friends inside the room.

"Hey, Kate." The two girls both said as they greeted their friend who they were happy to see.

"Stella, Alyssa." Kate shouted in excitement as she ran over to hug the two.

"How are you? We all miss you." Alyssa spoke.

"I'm feeling so much better, I still kinda feel silly about how I reacted yesterday." Kate shared, sounding embarrassed.

"Don't. We all should have done more to help you. What matters now is that you're still here and smiling again." Stella expressed.

"Thanks, Stella. How are things at Blackwell?" Kate asked.

"A lot of people are really talking about you. They all feel like their to blame for what happened. Even Victoria feels guilty about everything." Alyssa replied.

"Yeah, I heard that Ben Ferris tore her apart in the hallway after everything that happened yesterday." Stella added.

"I was there when it happened. Ben's actually an easy going guy, but watching him put Victoria in her place like that was awesome and scary at the same time. I wish you could have seen it Kate." Alyssa mentioned.

"I guess so. But maybe Victoria didn't really deserve that. What she did to me was mean of her, but I forgive her for what she's done." Kate affirmed.

"Don't ever change Kate. By the way, we also came by to drop off your homework and notes that you missed in Mr. Jefferson's class yesterday. And your copy of  _The October Country_  for your book report. We have to go soon so we're not late for class." Stella replied.

"Thanks, you guys." Kate acknowledged.

"Oh, wait!" Kate shouted before her two friends left the room.

"Do either of you happen to have Ben's number? He hasn't visited yet, but I wanted to thank him for what he did for me yesterday." She mentioned.

"Yeah, I actually do. I still have it from when I worked on a group project with him." Alyssa stated.

"Thanks, Alyssa." Kate said.

"Good idea, Kate. I think Ben would really appreciate you thanking him." Stella said. "Plus, he's kind of cute." She added, almost trying to give Kate a hint.

"What's that supposed to mean? I just wanted thank him." Kate thought to herself. She started to feel a blush develop on both of her cheeks from Stella's remark, but neither of her two friends noticed as they were both leaving the room.

* * *

"Kate! No!" Ben had shouted in his sleep.

He then woke up, only to see that his entire upper body was clammy as he slept with all of his covers since it was a chilly night. But then why was he so sweaty? It came to his realization that he had just had a bad dream, most likely from what he experienced on the roof yesterday. He didn't even feel like he was tired anymore and rolled out his bed to see that it was only 7:00 AM, three more hours before classes would even start. Walking over to his desk, still wearing his athletic shorts that he slept in, he sat down and turned on his laptop. He was actually willing to check his social media this time, to see all of the praise he was getting from his peers. He decided to log onto his Facebook first, to see what exactly everyone had written on his wall yesterday.

As he clicked on his profile, Ben first saw his profile picture at the top of his page. It was a photo of him standing right next to his mom with his arm around her. She was a middle aged woman that appeared to be of Native American descent and had long, straight, raven hair. The two were standing on a hill and smiling together with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. They took that picture together the day before Ben was moving back to Arcadia Bay to live with his dad for the summer and start his school year at Blackwell. It made him think back of the memories he had made in San Francisco. He also remembered that his profile's banner was a picture of him standing in the bleachers of Levi's Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, his favorite football team in the NFL. Ben then scrolled down to see all of the acknowledgements people posted on his wall.

**_Warren Graham- BEN 10! YOU ROCK!_ **

**_Max Caulfield- Keep being awesome Ben! Blackwell needs more people like you._ **

**_Brooke Scott- Watching you walk down with Kate from that roof was the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life. Thank you._ **

**_Dana Ward- You're a real hero Ben. Thank you._ **

**_Evan Harris- You actually made me proud to be at Blackwell. Bravo, Ben. Bravo._ **

**_Daniel DaCosta- Tu eres el hombre_ **

**_Luke Parker- Thanks for helping out Kate, Brother Ben!_ **

**_Hayden Jones- Epic._ **

**_Juliet Watson- Way to make the headlines, Ben!_ **

The list could go on. But Ben felt that he didn't deserve any of this. All he wanted to do yesterday was save someone's life before it was too late. He never asked for any of this recognition. He decided to check Kate's Facebook next. He hadn't heard anything from her since she was taken to the hospital yesterday, so he thought that he would have a better idea of how she was doing if she had updated a status. He began to scroll through his list of friends to find her name.

"Kate Beverly Marsh", was the name that he found upon scrolling down and clicked on. Even though they had only met each other for the first time on Monday, Ben and Kate had become friends on Facebook a few weeks back. He saw that her profile picture was a selfie that she had taken with another blonde haired girl, who was wearing glasses and standing next to her. The two were both smiling together and seemed to share a few facial similarities, so Ben figured that the other girl must have been one of Kate's sisters that she mentioned. Her profile's banner showed a drawing of three different cartoonish characters. Her signature was next to one of them, meaning that it was her drawing. Ben scrolled down to see if there was any kind of post from indicating that she was okay, only to see a series of heartfelt messages left by students and other individuals that Kate knew.

**_Taylor Christensen- Get well soon. U R in our hearts._ **

**_Evan Harris- Thinking of u._ **

**_Max Caulfield- Always here for you Kate._ **

**_Alyssa Anderson- We're all behind you._ **

**_Father Lamont- Psalm 34:18 "The lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."_ **

**_Victoria Maribeth Chase- Sending love to you Kate._ **

**_Mark Brewington- WE LOVE YOU KATE COME BACK TO CHURCH SOON._ **

**_Courtney Wagner- I hope you feel better._ **

**_Zach Riggins- Blackwell Bigfoots PROMISE to win the next game for YOU!_ **

' _It's good that she has more people looking out for her. I hope they actually mean what they say and treat her better when she comes back.'_  Ben thought to himself as he noticed that one post from Victoria and some of Kate's other tormentors. Ben couldn't find any kind of updates from Kate's social media so he stopped looking. Still wide awake, he decided to go through his emails and saw that one was sent from Principal Wells.

**_Dear Benjamin,_ **

**_Once again, I'd like to personally thank you for going out of your way to help Miss Marsh from being in a terrible situation yesterday. I'm sending this email to inform you that the entire Blackwell senior class will be having a mandatory assembly today during the second block of classes. The class President was intended to give an address to all of the students, but considering Mr. Prescott's recent suspension, I would like to ask you to speak to your fellow classmates as acting class President. Don't stress about it, I'm sure you'll do great._ **

**_Best,_ **

**_Ray Wells_ **

"I get to give a speech that I haven't even prepared, in front all of my friends. What a great way to start the day." Ben said sarcastically to himself. He then walked over to his mini-fridge, opened the freezer door and pulled out the ice pack that Dana lent him yesterday. He began to ice his black eye as he sat at his desk, mentally preparing his speech.

* * *

The day started off as usual. Ben had his Drama class first, where Sarah had been teaching students the importance of choosing tactics when completing a character's objective in acting. Things felt different today as Ben wasn't as energetic in the class as usual. During their warm ups Sarah had at one point encouraged Ben to show some more commitment to his actions, something she really never had to tell him to do. The class went by fast as students would always have fun playing warm up games and reading scenes with each other. The bell eventually rang, dismissing the students and directing them to go to their next class. As Ben grabbed his back pack from his seat and was ready to leave the auditorium, he heard Sarah call for him.

"Ben, a word please?" Sarah asked politely in her natural soft spoken voice.

"Hi, Sarah." Ben greeted as he tried to give a light smile.

"I just noticed that you weren't as lively and vocal today as you usual are in class. Is everything alright?" She asked with concern.

"Um, yeah, sorry about that. I guess I'm still kinda zoned out by everything from yesterday." Ben answered.

"Oh, I understand." She said. "You did so much for Kate yesterday. Not only did I see you walk down from the roof with her, but I also saw you taking down all of those vulgar pictures of her around campus in the morning and I even heard about you defending her from Mr. Madsen. You've been through a lot yesterday, so maybe you should consider seeing one of the school's counselors and talking to them." She suggested.

"I guess so. Thanks for listening, Sarah." Ben replied.

"Any time, Ben. Take care of yourself." She told him.

Ben then sat in his Video Production class. He and the rest of the students had begun working on a project that Mr. Jefferson assigned them, in which they had to create a 60 second Public Service Announcement. The students were allowed to choose any kind issue of their choice for the project; smoking, texting and driving, drug abuse, saving the environment, etc. Ben sat there putting together an outline for his video, but after the events of the last two days, all he could think of for his topic of choice was bullying. He knew that it was a dark subject, especially after everything Kate had just gone through, but he felt that he needed to get his point across when making this PSA. People needed to see this, and not just everyone at Blackwell. Ben knew deep down that out there in the world, there were other people just like Kate. But sometimes, that didn't mean that there was always a Ben Ferris to save them. All of a sudden, the school's PA system had just turned on, as the voice of Principal Wells had interrupted teachers giving their lectures and students presenting their projects.

"Good morning Blackwell Academy, this is Principal Wells. Will all students and teachers please report to the auditorium at this time? Thank you."

"You heard the man everyone. Let's go." Mr. Jefferson spoke as he urged his students to get up from their computers and head down to the auditorium.

Ben was the last one to leave the classroom as he made contact with Mr. Jefferson before he closed the classroom door after him.

"How you doing, Ben?" He asked him with a warm smile on his face.

"Just trying to make it through this week." Ben answered.

"I know yesterday was rough, but you should know that Kate really appreciates what you did. I went to visit her this morning to drop off a 'get well' card for her. She even asked about you." Mr. Jefferson mentioned.

"She did?" Ben questioned

"Of course she did. You saved her life. She could never forget that." Jefferson reassured him as the two walked down the hallway. "Are you planning to visit her anytime soon?" He then asked Ben.

"I definitely want to. I've just been kind of swamped this week with homework and football. Plus today's also our first day meeting together for my independent study." Ben explained.

"The independent study can wait, you've got all year to do that. Right now, Kate needs support and friendly faces while she's still in the hospital. How about we reschedule a time to meet for the independent study instead?" He insisted.

"That would be awesome. Thank you so much Mr. Jefferson." Ben replied happily.

"No problem. Now if I'm not mistaken, you have a speech to give to everyone today." Jefferson mentioned.

"Yeah. How did you know about that anyway?" He asked.

"Well, news does travel fast between the faculty." He simply answered.

Ben didn't think too much of this explanation. It probably explained how Mr. Jefferson had found out about the confrontation between him and David which involved Kate. As the students began to walk through the doors of the auditorium, Ben made his way up towards the stage, where he saw Principal Wells standing in front of a podium.

"Good morning, Ben. Ready to make you're grand address to all of your royal subjects?" Wells joked.

"Yeah, ready as I'll ever be." Ben said, lacking enthusiasm in his voice.

"Alright then. I'll just welcome everyone once there all settled in, and then I'll turn things over to you." He said.

As Ben talked with Principal Wells, he could smell a small whiff of what seemed to be whisky off of the man's breath. Ben was completely caught off guard by this. Had he been drinking before he got here? This seemed a bit odd. Principal Wells then showed Ben to a set of fold-up chairs on the stage, accompanied by Victoria, Taylor, Courtney, and Hayden the entire student class executive board, minus Nathan. Ben had sat at the empty chair which was next to Victoria, who gave him a dirty look, most likely for what he had said to her yesterday. Once all the students were seated in the auditorium, Principal Wells brought the microphone close to his face and began to address the entire class.

"Good morning, everyone." Principal Wells stated to the entire audience. "I know it's still early for some of you and you'd all like to resume your studies as soon as possible, but due to yesterday's happenings that occurred, I strongly felt that the entire student body needed to be brought together. What happened yesterday should never take place at a prestigious institution like Blackwell. However, Kate Marsh is in good health and currently being treated at Arcadia Bay General. And while I am still investigating who was responsible for Miss Marsh's suicide attempt as well as the viral video that was posted, there has already been action taken to address the students who appeared in the video." He stated.

As Ben sat in the chair he had felt his phone vibrate and decided to quickly check to see what it was for. As he pulled out his phone from his pocket, he saw that he had received a message from an unknown number. He then opened up his phone and tried to read it quickly before being caught by someone.

**_Unknown:_ **

**_Hi Ben, this is Kate Marsh. I wanted to thank you from my heart for reaching out to me on the roof yesterday. We only just met since Monday and already, you were the only one besides Max who was there for me at school, the only one who truly cared. I have to believe you were sent to give me hope. You did so much more than that. My father is grateful as well. You'll always be in our prayers._ **

**_Love and Blessings,_ **

**_Kate_ **

Ben didn't know what to say. He was so glad to finally hear from Kate for the first time today, knowing that she was okay. Reading her kind words had suddenly given him a sense of confidence to speak to everyone in the audience. He replied to her quickly before putting his phone away.

**_Ben:_ **

**_Hey Kate, I'm so happy to hear that you're ok. I promise I'll come visit you as soon as I can. Hope you feel better!_ **

As Principal Wells continued to speak to the entire students as a whole. Ben began to whisper to Victoria, sitting next to him on his left, to get her attention and talk to her.

"Hey, listen. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about what I said to you yesterday. I overreacted and it was way out of line." Ben whispered.

"No. You had every right to be mad at me. What I did to Kate was so fucked up. And now, I'm not even sure if she'll ever forgive me." Victoria whispered back as she had a feeling of remorse in her voice.

"That's all in the past. What matters now is letting her know that you're sorry and that you care about her." Ben stated.

"You always are wise. That's why I'm glad that we're friends. Thanks!" Victoria quietly replied.

"Of course. Just remind me to never get on your bad side, cause you've got a mean right hook." Ben joked, referring to how hard she smacked him yesterday. The two friends then chuckled together.

"And now, I'd like to turn things over to our class president, for the time being, who will be giving an address to all of you. Ben Ferris." The Principal said welcoming Ben to the Podium. Ben shook his hand and could once again smell the scent of whisky on the man's breath, just before he went to sit down. Ben was greeted by the loud applause of the students still treating him like a hero.

"Yeah, Big Ben!"

"We love you, Super-Ben!"

"Brother Ben!"

"Thank you, Principal Wells." Ben said. "Good morning my fellow members of the Blackwell Community. Today, I was hoping to give you a speech that would help lift everyone's spirits and bring us back to positivity. I guess you could even say that this was supposed to be a really funny speech given by a funny person like me. But instead that's not going to happen, because I'm not happy at all. Instead, I'm upset about the behavior of some of my peers sitting in front of me right now. Over the past few days, there was a certain viral video, involving a fellow friend and classmate, which had attracted attention among everyone here. Many of you sitting in this auditorium right now only responded to that video in a very immature way, and it made me wonder how some of you would feel, had that been you on the receiving end of this incident. I'm speaking about this issue right now because the fact that it was so blown out of proportion, caused Kate Marsh to attempt to take her own her life yesterday. All I have to say is that I am disappointed in each and every one of you who decided to watch that repulsive video. I am even more disgusted in anyone who even went to the lengths to share the link to the video on social media." Ben angrily spoke out.

"Now for those of you, who paid close attention to my words, you may have noticed that I used one word in particular. 'Community'. This is what we as students here at Blackwell should strive to create. But how can we create a community if we choose to bully our fellow classmates or ridicule them for their own beliefs? It's never too late for us to make a difference, guys. Start being kind to one another and helping someone when you see them struggling. Yesterday only proved that life can be so short, and sometimes if we chose not to step up and help someone, we might not get the chance to see them again." Ben expressed. He could see the looks of people's faces in the audience. Some of them moved by Ben's chilling words, some of them even crying, feeling awful for how they had treated Kate.

"This morning, it came to me that if we want to make Blackwell a community, then we shouldn't be partying like there's no tomorrow when one of our fellow peers attempted suicide just yesterday. That's why as your acting class president, I've decided to cancel the End of the World Party on tomorrow night hosted by the Vortex Club, and instead we'll be putting together a rally in support of Kate Marsh. Thanks for listening guys. Now let's go make a difference here at Blackwell."

The entire section of students cheered loudly as they were heavily inspired by Ben's message. He refrained from calling out a single person and everyone all got the message that they needed to be kinder to Kate and help her get through this nightmare that she went through. Ben was surprised himself by the speech he had given. He was even more shocked to see that many people were in favor of replacing the anticipated End of the World Party with a rally for Kate. However, he only had until tomorrow night to have everything organized for this event. He also wanted to make sure that it would be successful for when Kate returned to Blackwell tomorrow evening. As he walked to his locker, Ben was then greeted by Max and Warren who wanted to give him props on delivering such a powerful speech.

"That was literally the most epic speech I've heard in my entire life." Warren stated. "You should definitely consider running for office one day." He then brought his fist to Ben to get a knuckle pound from him.

"Thanks Warren, but politics kind of bore me." Ben replied.

"Great idea with wanting to put together a rally for Kate." Max said "You've only been class president for not even a day and you're starting to make more of a difference than Nathan when he got elected last month." She remarked.

"Aw, Thanks, Max. I know I helped her when she was on the roof and all, but you were also there for her when you answered her phone call and erased all that crap off her room slate. That technically kinda makes you my sidekick." Ben stated.

"I could go with that." Max said accepting Ben's compliment.

"Check it out everyone!" Zach shouted to his friends pointing at Ben. "Big Ben? More like King Benjamin after that speech bro. You shook the entire room." He said praising his best friend.

"Wanna grab lunch with us Ben?" Warren asked.

"You guys can go without me. I just have to stop at the little boys' room real quick. I'll meet you there though." He said as he walked over to the bathroom.

As Ben was finishing up in the bathroom, he began to wash his hands and heard the sound of a toilet flush and one of the stall doors open. He then looked up and stared in the mirror, only to see a face of someone he hoped he wouldn't see for a while walk right out of the stall.

"I have to say, that was quite the speech you gave today 'Benny-Boy'. I guess you're not a typical meathead football player after all." Nathan said jokingly as he walked over to Ben by the sink.

"I thought you were suspended." Ben spoke as he didn't even look at Nathan.

"Oh I am, thanks to you." Nathan rudely remarked. "It was pretty easy for me to sneak into the building with everybody being in the auditorium to listen to your bullshit speech. And when Officer David Dickhead is busy writing parking tickets." Nathan explained to Ben.

"So what do you want then? To get back at me for getting you suspended?" Ben questioned. Nathan simply laughed at what Ben had asked.

"You know, Ferris, getting your own friend suspended was a pretty dumb move on your part. But canceling my End of the World Party just moved you all the way to the top of my shit list." Nathan calmly spoke. "I mean, what's a backstabbing prick like you even doing here at a place like Blackwell anyway? Don't even answer that. We both know you only got accepted here because of your dad, who's the football coach. Maybe the reason why you wanted to join the Vortex Club so bad is because deep down inside, you're just some loser with Daddy issues. I mean, does he actually think someone like you can lead the team to the state championships?" Nathan taunted.

Ben began to have a tight grip on the end of the sink with his left hand and his right hand balled into a fist. His fist was balled up tightly to the point that his fingernails were digging into the palm of his hand. Ben had to try to contain himself though. He couldn't risk being reported for another fight a second day in a row.

"You're really something you know that, Ben. Turning on your own friends like me and Victoria yesterday, just to defend poor Kate Marsh. And now you're putting together some gay little rally for her? That's pathetic." Nathan commented. "You wanna know what I thought about your speech today, Ben? I think every single word you said was all a lie. You're probably a hypocrite for shaming everyone for watching that video. I bet you saw it more than once and got off to watching Kate go wild. Hell, you probably saw it all go down at the party that night with your own eyes and got a hard on just watching her. I bet the only reason you stepped up for her in the student lounge and talked to her on that roof yesterday was because you pitied her. You thought she was pathetic, like everyone else thought, and that if she killed herself, we wouldn't have any one else to make fun of for being a virgin. You're a Drama student anyway, so you were probably just acting like you cared." Nathan commented as he grinned the entire time.

"Shut up, Nathan!" Ben warned as he gritted his teeth and stared deeply at Nathan. He hated that stupid smirk Nathan had on his face when he always knew he would get away with something.

"Actually, now that Kate's in the hospital, maybe I should pay her a little visit. She probably gave up on her religion after everything she's been through anyway. Which means she's probably ready to show someone like me what she's like in bed..." Nathan expressed.

"Shut your fucking mouth!" Ben shouted, shoving Nathan into the bathroom wall before he could even finish his sentence. He had his left arm pressed down against Nathan's throat with all his force, making sure he couldn't breathe or move.

"If you even go to that hospital and set foot in her room, I'll kill you." Ben threatened as he stared into Nathan's slightly scared eyes. Ben had stood at five feet and ten inches tall and weighed 165 pounds, complete with his athletic build. Nathan was probably no taller than five feet and six inches and was just a scrawny punk compared to him. Ben was ready to beat him down if he had to. But all of a sudden, Ben had heard a clicking sound from below. He had looked down to see that Nathan was pointing a handgun right at Ben's abdomen, with the safety off. He believed what both Chloe and Max had told him, but now he had seen the gun with his very own eyes.

"Get the fuck off me!" Nathan growled, as he was trying to breathe.

Ben released him and took several steps back as Nathan caught his breath and still pointed the gun at him.

"I'm so tempted to pull the trigger right now and watch you bleed to death. But you're not worth my time. You're not worth anybody's time." Nathan scoffed at Ben. "Plus, the last thing you even deserve right now is a funeral. Because unlike Kate, people would actually show up to your funeral." He remarked. Nathan put the gun back into the inner pocket of his red bomber jacket and turned around to leave the boys' bathroom. Before he opened the door, he turned his head to face Ben and address him one last time.

"By the way, if you ever touch me again. I'm gonna smash your perfect teeth in." He threatened just before walking out of the door.

Ben had a series of emotions flowing through his mind. Those remarks Nathan made about Ben's speech and the way he thought he could talk about him, Kate, and even Ben's own father like that. Ben screamed as loud as he could and punched one of the bathroom mirrors as a result of all the rage he had just built up. The mirror had cracked and Ben noticed that he had a cut on his knuckles. He left the bathroom and went to the student lounge to be alone instead, while everyone else was at lunch. He didn't even feel hungry anymore after what had just happened. He thought back to when he had become friends with Nathan on the first weekend and the two began to bond over the next several weeks. He was even his next door neighbor in his dorm. But since yesterday, Ben began to hate him for so many reasons, and today only gave him another reason.

* * *

Ben sat in his last class of the day, just waiting for it to be over. He just wanted to forget about everything that had happened today, his friends who wrote the messages on his wall, his speech he gave, and especially his run-in with Nathan. His hand had still hurt from when he punched the mirror and he noticed how he had dried blood on his knuckles. Since his independent study after class today with Mr. Jefferson was canceled, he thought about visiting Kate at the hospital to see how she was doing. He had two hours of free time to himself anyway before football practice started. As the bell finally rang, Ben grabbed his things from his locker and left the school building. He didn't even say a single word to any of his friends in the hallway. As we walked outside, he saw that it was still sunny out but starting to get chilly. He walked back to his dorm room and grabbed a navy blue cardigan from his closet to put on. He stopped at the bathroom to wash the dried blood off of his hand before he left.

As Ben walked through the student parking lot, he made his way over to his car, a red 1967 Ford Mustang, complete with a black two-striped paint job on the hood of the car. Ben only had it for a little over three months now. It was the birthday gift that his Dad got for him. He knew how much Ben loved old styled cars, and felt that it was the perfect first car for him to own. Ben even cherished it so much too. He would wake up early on Saturday mornings, even if he was hungover, to wax it and make sure it still had a brand new gleam on it. As he pulled out of his parking spot, he turned on the radio to help him take his mind off things. He cruised down the streets of Arcadia Bay with his right hand on the steering wheel and his left hand hanging outside the window while listening to  _Crosses_  by Jose Gonzalez play on the radio. He gazed at the sights of the shore and the numerous shops, restaurants, and gas stations that he passed. He eventually began to pass the town's more significant landmarks, such as the lighthouse and lumber mill. Just as Ben was halfway through another song that played on the radio, he saw that he had finally arrived at the hospital. He found an empty parking spot further down from the main entrance. As he walked into the hospital, he could see that the interior of the building all looked so familiar to him. He was reminded of a visit he had made here with both of his parents when he was only four years-old and he had swallowed a nickel due to his little curiosity that he had. And since he was a native of Arcadia Bay after all, this was the exact same hospital that he was born in. He walked over to the information desk in the hospital's foyer and approached one of the nurses sitting at the desk who smiled at him as he walked over.

"Hi, I'm here to visit a friend." Ben stated.

"Sure, what's the patient's name?" the nurse asked Ben so she could search it into the computer in front of her.

"Kate Marsh." Ben answered.

"Okay, she's on the third floor, room 310. Feel free to use the elevator down that hall on your left." She politely told Ben as she pointed to the hallway.

"Thank you." Ben said as he walked down the hall.

As Ben walked down the hallway of the third floor, he started to feel somewhat anxious, but he didn't know why. The last time he saw Kate was yesterday and he had only heard from her this morning from her text message. He didn't even say a single word to her after walking down from the roof with her. He wasn't even sure what he would say to her now. He could still picture her face in his head. Her eyes puffy, the makeup on her face running from the rain and her tears, and even her neatly tied up hair soaked from the rain. He wasn't exactly sure what she would have even looked like now. She had only been here for one night and one day so far and who knew if she was feeling better already. As Ben was still in deep thought, he could see that he was now standing in front of a door that had the numbers "310" right on it. He was here and had gotten this far. To turn around and go all the way back to Blackwell and visit her another time would have been foolish as well a waste of gas at this point. Ben took a deep breath and grabbed the door knob with his left hand, slowly turning it and walking inside.

As he entered the room, Ben began to look around to see that there were several framed paintings hanging up on the wall, two windows with curtains, and a bed with several balloons tied to it, as well as a night stand with a vase on top of it, filled with yellow flowers in it. There were also four chairs placed around the room and in one of the chairs that was next to the bed, sat a blonde haired girl, dressed in a pair of pajamas instead of a hospital gown, who was drawing. As she heard the door open and close, she looked up to see that it was Ben, revealing that she had no make-up on and had her hair tied in her typical bun. She greeted him with a warm smile as she recognized his face.

"Hi, Kate." Ben addressed in a soft voice, as he couldn't help but smile when he saw her.

"Ben!" Kate shouted his in name in joy as she got up from her seat and walked over to hug him.

"It's good to see you again." Ben stated as he opened up his arms to hug her back.

"I thought I'd never see you or anyone ever again. I feel so ridiculous... I'm so sorry." Kate said to him, sounding somewhat remorseful for what she did yesterday.

"Hey, listen. What happened up there yesterday wasn't your fault. It's everyone else's." Ben reassured Kate as he looked into her hazel eyes while he held both of her arms. "I really am happy to see you though. You look great." He complimented as he noticed he was still smiling at her.

"Thanks, so do you. As in... Your eye looks better than it did yesterday." Kate brought up nervously as she began to look down at the floor.

"So, how are you holding up?" Ben asked as he placed his hand on the back of his head.

"Now that you're here, I'm doing even better... because... you're visiting me right now of course." Kate said coyly as she tried to rephrase her sentence, which seemed a bit flirty to her. Ben had noticed a slight blush on Kate's cheeks. He thought nothing of it though. "I'm so grateful to you for coming up to the roof to talk me down."

"It was nothing really. You needed help and I wanted to be there for you." He replied.

"Ben, I felt so lost and alone...but when I saw how much you cared, how hard you were trying to save me, you made me realize I wasn't alone. Thank you." Kate confessed to him.

"Kate, you're never alone. You have your friends and your family. Those are the kinds of people in your life that will always love you and go out of their way to help you no matter what." Ben convinced her.

"I know. You should see all the letters and postcards I got. I gave most of the flowers to the other patients here because they need them more than me. I'm keeping the balloons, though. And one of the nurses gave me some pen and paper so I could do some drawings." Kate shared with Ben.

' _Wow, you actually gave all of the flowers to other patients who you felt needed them more. You are too cute Kate! Wait, cute?'_  Ben thought to himself as his mind had slightly lingered.

As Kate sat back down in her chair and resumed to her drawings, Ben looked at the one she was currently working on, along with the ones hanging on the wall.

"These are some sick drawings you've got here." Ben complimented as he thoroughly observed each of Kate's sketches.

"The one you did of Hawt Dawg man is definitely my favorite. I used to play the video games and watch the cartoon." Ben mentioned as Kate's drawing of an anthropomorphic hot dog had reminded him of his childhood.

"Thanks! They got kind of dark there for a while," Kate explained as she pointed at a paper on a table that showed a bit more disturbing doodles. "But I have an idea for a new children's book about bullying." She mentioned.

"Good for you, Kate! That's awesome. You know, I'm actually kind of a writer myself." Ben brought up.

"Oh, was that supposed to be a subtle hint, Ben Ferris? I guess we'll have to work on a children's book together some time in the future." Kate teased. Ben couldn't even hide the bashful smile on his face when Kate brought up the idea.

"Have you heard yet? We're putting together a rally for you at Blackwell tomorrow night for when you come back." Ben stated, changing the subject.

"Principal Wells sent me an email about that. That's so sweet of everyone. Unfortunately, I'm going to be here for another two days until my family comes out to visit." Kate told him.

"How have they been treating you anyway?" Ben asked.

"Like they need to protect me forever. They're so upset, and I know they feel guilty even though they didn't do anything." Kate admitted. "But I was surprised by how many people from Blackwell wrote to me though. Daniel, Mr. Jefferson... Even Victoria wrote me a very sweet note...and I believe she was being real." She mentioned.

"That makes two of us. I'm glad that you haven't lost your faith, Kate." Ben expressed as he sat down in a chair across from Kate.

"I'm working on it, Ben. I just pray I can get this drawing right..." Kate mentioned as she was working hard on her current drawing.

Ben was glad to see Kate like this. She gave off a complete aurora of innocence as he watched her sitting down drawing. She had looked so peaceful for the first time this entire week. He may have only met her just two days ago, but he felt so rejoiced to have helped her in her personal battle.

"I'm really glad that we got to meet each other." Ben brought up to Kate as he smiled.

"Ben, I owe you so much for everything you've done. You look like you have something on your mind." Kate expressed as she noticed how he looked like he was in deep thought.

"You don't owe me anything at all." Ben said modestly. "You mentioned that you got a note from Victoria. Are you cool with that after everything that's happened between you two?" He asked her with concern.

"Ben, I know Victoria can be a...a...not nice. But, I do believe in forgiveness and redemption. I might be naive, but...I feel her struggle." Kate stated as she sat in her chair with her legs crossed.

"I wasn't so nice to her yesterday when I called her out on everything she did to you." He confessed as he looked down at the floor.

"It's okay, Ben, we all have our moments. Why do you think she acts so mean?" She wondered.

"I've been friends with her since the school year started. She's nothing if not insecure. When you're confident in yourself, then you don't need to act like everyone else is beneath you." Ben explained.

"Victoria doesn't look like she has much to be insecure about." Kate claimed.

"Believe me, once you get to know her, it all makes sense." Ben laughed.

"I think I'll take your word for it." She presumed.

"Oh, I thought I should let you know that I got Nathan Prescott suspended for you." He added.

"You did? But weren't the two of you friends?" She then questioned.

"We used to be." Ben answered. All Ben could think of were Nathan's derogatory remarks he made towards him and Kate, from their encounter in the bathroom today. He just wanted to forget about that entire experience.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Kate expressed sincerely. "Did it have something to do with me?" She asked.

"Not at all. He's just jealous of how I took his place as class president after he got suspended is all. Boys will be boys, you know?" He said nonchalantly as he sat back in the chair. He didn't want Kate to feel bad knowing that she had a part in Nathan's suspension.

"Ben, I'm not that naive. You've been a good friend to me, so you can at least tell me what's wrong." She said as she pouted at Ben and folded her arms, wanting him to be honest with her.

"Alright! Nathan's pissed at me because I told Principal Wells that he roofied you at the last Vortex Club Party. And now, he practically want's my head on a pike after I replaced his End of the World Party with your rally for tomorrow night." Ben explained.

"Oh no, this is all my fault. I hope things won't get worse between you two when he comes back." Kate sadly expressed.

"It's not your fault, Kate. And him coming after me is bound to happen. I think it's just best if I... we watch our backs for the next few days when he does come back from being suspended." Ben suggested.

"Ben, Nathan Prescott doesn't deserve to torment you or me after what he did. So if we stick together, he better watch out for both us." Kate stated as she began to flex her arm to show her muscles, making Ben giggle.

"You sound so persuasive. But Nathan can wait. What's more important right now is that you're safe and better than ever." Ben shared. He looked at the clock in Kate's room to see that he needed to have enough time to drive back to school and get changed in his football gear for practice. He felt bad that he would have to leave Kate though. He actually enjoyed getting to sit down with her and have an actual conversation.

"I wish I could stay longer, but I have to head back to Blackwell for practice." Ben told her.

"Aw, I was really enjoying our talk." Kate said as she smiled.

"Maybe we could hang out together sometime with Max and even Warren when you come back to school?" He suggested.

"Is that even a question? Of course we should." She replied as she was surprised to find out that Ben also knew Max and Warren.

"See ya, Kate!" He said as he walked out of the door.

"Bye Ben! It was good to see you." She replied as she smiled at him again before he closed her door.

Ben walked down the hallway and made his way back to the hospital entrance to walk back to his car. As we walked back, he noticed that he felt different from when he first arrived to visit Kate. As he drove to the hospital, he remembered how he had felt completely angry and regretted that he ever knew Nathan. He almost wished he didn't even attend Blackwell because of him. But there was a sudden change in his emotions when he walked into that room and saw Kate again. He felt calm, relaxed, and most of all, happy. He didn't know exactly why he felt all those ways around her and he pondered on it on the drive back to Blackwell. To Ben, Kate Marsh was clearly an absolute gem, and one that he hoped to spend more time with in the near future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed the mood of this chapter. It seemed like a good direction to take after the events of the last one, but then again, you really do see how Nathan can ruin anything. I did have fun writing the hospital scene with Ben and Kate as we got to see some subtle flirting between the two which was awkward for both of them. Also, for anyone who paid close attention or just so happened to catch on while reading this chapter, Dr. Penny Young, the psychologist who sees Kate in this chapter is a reference to the psychiatrist who bares the same name in Batman: Arkham Asylum, one of my favorite video game series. Also if you read the encounter between Ben and Nathan closely, you may have noticed that Nathan didn't even wash his hands before he left the bathroom. He truly is a horrible human being :P


	8. Community

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! The next chapter of this story. See just how much Ben will go to show his support and convince others to do the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to LyricOcean for leaving kudos and the awesome feedback. Hope to hear from more of you are still reading as well :)

As Ben's final class had ended, he was eager to go on about his day. He was probably feeling more anxious than anything, considering it was now Thursday and the rally for Kate was happening tonight. He wasn't alone in organizing the event however. All of the members on the football team would help set everything up after they got out of practice and they would even be getting community service hours out of it. Even members of the Vortex Club had agreed to help out as many of them felt responsible for what had happened to Kate at their last party.

As Ben walked through the halls, he made his way over to the music room to make a very special request to a certain group of people. Since classes were over at this time, no one would usually use that room except for the four students who identified themselves as part of a group known as "Totem Pole". They were a rock band that they had decided to establish at Blackwell just a few weeks ago and bonded over their similar interests in punk rock bands from the '90s and 2000s. Their main message was to perform songs that they wrote, which embraced the Native American history and culture of Arcadia Bay. Other times, they would perform covers of whatever songs their groupies requested at the gigs they performed at. The members of Totem Pole were a very restrictive group for just four people. They were almost like the Vortex Club in which they weren't sociable or accepting towards anyone else who wasn't a member of their band. At lunch you could find them sitting together, going over ideas for new songs or talking about the success from their last gig. Ben had no idea how they would feel about someone being a Vortex Club member approaching them and asking them to play at the rally.

Ben was now met by the closed door of the music room with a sign taped to it which read:  **Private Rehearsal in Session! Totem Pole Members Only!** He could hear them playing one of their original songs from outside the music room. From listening to some of the lyrics it sounded like it had something to do with showing support for the preservation of Native American land, which seemed like perfect timing, considering the fact that a company owned by the Prescott family known as Pan Estates was planning on building a residential community on a Native American burial site. Ben had heard the music cease as he then heard the sound of voices conversing amongst each other. He then opened the door and walked into the music room to see one of the members providing some feedback.

"Reggie, I'm thinking you should try adding a few more riffs in that one melody and we'll see how it sounds this time around." Suggested a guy with an electric guitar strapped around him. He was wearing a gray buttoned up shirt with a pair of black skinny jeans and converse. He also had dark messy hair with spiked tips.

"Dexter, I'm loving the sound of how that last note ended." He then mentioned to another guy playing on an electric keyboard.

As Ben walked further into the room to see the band's setup, he was immediately noticed and called out by one of the band's members.

"Hey, what's he doing in here? Didn't you read the sign, dude? We're having private rehearsals right now, which means no one's allowed in here. Especially self-pretentious Blackwell Bigfoot douche bags." A girl with long red hair, playing on the drums protested angrily at Ben. She noticed how Ben was wearing his red and white varsity jacket which caused her to become so hostile towards him.

"Take it easy, Michelle! You obviously don't know who this guy is." The guy with the guitar intervened as he turned around and saw Ben.

"Am I supposed too?" The girl mocked.

"This guy right here is Ben Ferris. He's the one who saved Kate Marsh's life. Which means he's a pretty big deal in my book." The guy stated as he glared at the girl for barking at Ben.

"Oh shit! My bad." Michelle excused herself as she then realized who she just yelled at.

"I saw you walk down that roof with Kate with my own eyes. I'm not a big fan of most dudes on the football team, but I gotta give you some mad respect for what you did." He praised Ben and gave him a fist bump as he welcomed him into the room.

"Steve Hackney's the name. I'm the guitarist and lead singer of our band, Totem Pole. Over there on the drums is Michelle, Reggie on the bass, and Dexter on the keyboard." He proudly introduced each of the other members to Ben.

"So, what can we do for you, Ben?" Steve asked him with a warm smile.

"Well, I know that this is on such short notice, but I was wondering if you guys would be willing to play a few of your songs at the rally we're putting together for Kate tonight."

"Look dude, no disrespect to you or Kate, but were not some charity band like U2, if that's what you're thinking. Plus, we've got a gig tomorrow night, so we need to run through all of our songs instead of playing at a rally that you organized for your little girlfriend..." Michelle stated as she began to go off on a rant towards Ben.

"Cool it Michelle." Steve yelled while looking back at the feisty redhead.

"Ben, we'd be more than happy to play tonight. I have class with Kate and she's pretty cool. I really hated seeing her get picked on by other people and you made me and a lot of other people realize that we could have done something about it." Steve expressed to Ben. "So where do we need to be and what time?" He asked with excitement.

"Meet in front of the statue of Jeremiah Blackwell tonight at six. We should have the stage set up for you guys by then." Ben instructed.

"A stage? You are just too kind." Steve replied with joy.

"Thanks a lot for this. Kate would really appreciate it." Ben said.

"Anytime brother! Let's make it a night for a Kate to remember." He said as he shook Ben's hand.

Later that day, the football team was out on the field practicing earlier than usual. Since they would be setting up things for the rally at 6 PM, their usual practice time, Coach Ferris decided to have the team be out on the field as soon as classes were over. This way, they would be finished just in time to go help out. The team would usually finish their practices earlier than usual the day before a big game, mostly to save their energy and take care of themselves the night before.

As everyone on the team had just finished their warm ups, Ben was running late after he had talked to the group members of Totem pole, who agreed to play at the rally. He held his helmet in one hand and his water bottle in the other, jogging to get to the field before getting chewed out by his dad for being late. It was going to look even worse for him since he was a captain of the team. As he finally made it onto the field, he could see all of the players circled around his dad, who was giving a run-through of what they would be doing for today's practice. Suddenly, the attention of all of the players and even Coach Ferris shifted over to Ben who walked over to join his team.

"Ben, you're late! You've got an extra lap to run after practice." Coach Ferris reminded him.

"Yes, Coach." Ben replied as he began to put on his helmet.

"What happened, 'Mr. Blackwell Hero'? You had to rescue a cat out of a tree or something?" Logan sniggered as he made a joke out of Ben's tardiness.

"Can it, Robertson!" Coach Ferris intervened as he was in a hurry to get through some serious things at practice before tomorrow night's game against their rivals, the Sunnydale Razorbacks.

"Alright ladies, let's finally run through these game plans now. Starting lineup, get your asses on the field. I don't have all day." He then demanded at his star players on the team.

Ben, Zach, Logan, and the other starting varsity players positioned themselves on the field, all ready to do what they do best.

* * *

The team ran through their last game plan that Coach Ferris put together. It had worked smoothly as Zach made a pass to Ben, who then caught the ball, juking another player charging right in front of him and sprinting his way to the end zone. Touchdown! Ben took a deep sigh and spiked the ball to the ground, already feeling confident and ready for tomorrow's game.

"Nice work, everyone! Now bring it in." Coach Ferris ordered as he wanted to give one last message to the team before dismissing them. Everyone huddled around to hear his message.

"Take a good look around this field everyone. We've already won our first three games of the season and tomorrow it all comes down to those damn dirty apes to determine if we keep our undefeated streak." He told the team, as he couldn't help but make a  _Planet of the Apes_  reference in his speech. "I know you guys have a rally to help set up so I won't keep you guys any longer. Just remember to get some rest tonight and stay hungry! Cause tomorrow night, it's an all you can eat razorback buffet." He advised his players. Each of them had roared with excitement as they were eager to win tomorrow night's game for all of their friends to see.

As all of the players began to head up to the locker rooms to change, Ben removed his helmet and football pads to run his two laps for being late to practice. As he finished his second lap, he walked back onto the field to collect all of his gear before taking off. That was until he was stopped by his dad who had patted him on the back.

"Hey, good hustle today, champ!" He complemented Ben. "I was a little worried that you were gonna fall behind after missing practice on Tuesday, but you handled yourself just fine yesterday and today."

"Thanks Dad! I just want to do my team well, being a captain and all." Ben stated.

"You already have. Now, I just need you in your usual mindset for tomorrow night like every game." His dad mentioned. "By the way, I heard from one of my old college buddies, who's the athletic director at Oregon State now. He says their football team is looking for a lot of new talent for next year. Sounds like that's right up your alley if you ask me. Yet again, Arizona State's starting Wide Receiver is graduating. You might want to look into that too."

"Yeah, it... all sounds exciting." Ben replied as he sounded disinterested.

"You know, I was thinking that after the season ends, we should get you back out on the field and in the weight room to have you do some training in the spring." Coach Ferris then suggested.

"Sure, I guess that would be pretty awesome to do." Ben then stated, having no emotion in his voice as he looked down at the ground. His dad picked up on this, and decided to question him to see what was up.

"You still seem a bit quiet lately ever since what happened on Tuesday. You're not still thinking about that are you?" He asked.

"It has been a crazy week, but it's not that. I've just been thinking about something else lately." Ben confessed.

"Okay. What is it exactly?" He questioned.

"Well, I've been thinking that since football will be over in November, I'd have more free time on my schedule. So, I was thinking about joining the Drama Club and trying out for the spring musical." Ben explained honestly.

"The Drama Club?" His father questioned, practically sounding confused.

"It makes sense, Dad. I'm studying Drama here at Blackwell anyway, and my teacher always encourages us to take part in the school's productions." He explained.

"But when we talked about you coming here, it sounded like you would just choose to study Drama so you'd get less homework and more time to focus on football." His dad tried to clear up.

"I know, but I might as well make the most of my experience here while I can. I might actually have the talent to act on stage and I don't even know it yet. Not unless I give football a rest for good after the season ends." Ben argued "Dad, come on I think you should just really consider letting me..."

"Ben, I'm not your enemy. I'm only against it because you've been an athlete for almost your whole life. It's what you're good at, so why stop?" His Dad expressed. "And at the end of the day, playing football is what will get you a scholarship. Not being up on a stage, making a fool of yourself. Look, we shouldn't talk about this right now. I need you to be ready and focused for tomorrow night's game. We can chat more about this whole thing over the weekend. Okay?" He added, sounding a bit more compassionate.

"Whatever. I need to go help set up for Kate's rally. I'm the one who's actually running it anyway." Ben said, sounding frustrated at how his father disagreed with his plans for what he wanted to do at Blackwell. What he really wanted to do here.

Ben walked away and made his way back up to the boys' locker room to shower and change. For Ben, Football was the one game that he knew and grew up to appreciate. But most times, he always hated being seen as the typical football player by everyone at school and nothing else. There was a term for this in the world of acting known as being "typecast". Ben chose to move to Arcadia Bay and attend Blackwell for a reason. To have a fresh new start. To actually join a club or two and make friends who weren't just his teammates. Sure he had done this with being a part of the Vortex Club, but considering the falling out between him and Nathan over the past two days, who knew if he would still be able to have the same kind of fun with the rest of his friends in that group like he used to. Yet again, he was good friends with Warren, Chloe was always around, and Max happened to be a mutual friend between them. And then there was Kate. He had only known her since the beginning of this week and it felt like the two of them had known each other for weeks considering how their conversation went when Ben visited her yesterday. He wondered if Kate was involved in the Drama club by any chance. If she was, he would already know someone if he joined. He now knew that she loved to draw and had aspirations to write her own children's book someday, but maybe someone artsy like her also had an interest in theatre. Ben thought that she looked beautiful. Sure, most of the other girls he was friends with like Victoria and Dana were pretty too, but they would often apply make-up most of the time. When Ben saw Kate at the hospital without any of her makeup that she usually wore, he could tell that she had a natural beauty about herself. She would easily make a perfect actress. Ben remembered his suggestion he made to her about the two of them hanging out together sometime with Max and Warren. He was definitely going to bring it up to her when she came back to school. Maybe they could even include Chloe and then it would be a party. Hopefully, there would be no marijuana involved if Chloe tagged along, mostly for Kate's sake.

* * *

Right outside of the main campus building, there were a handful of both football players and Vortex Club members working hard to help put together a stage for Totem Pole to perform on at the rally. The event would start in an hour and masses of students were expected to soon flood the area, each holding up signs and posters that they all made to support Kate. As the stage was finished being put together. Ben saw that Totem Pole arrived and were ready to set up shop.

"Yo, Ben, the whole gang's here. Where do you want us to set up?" Steve asked.

"That stage up there is all yours. Just cross your fingers that it doesn't fall apart on you." Ben joked.

"Wouldn't be the first time it happened to us." Steve replied.

"Wait, are you serious?" Ben asked.

"I was just joking, brother. You're not the first one I've fooled with that one." Steve teased.

As Ben turned around, he now saw that a van which belonged to a TV News station had pulled up in front of the school. A woman wearing a suit who was holding a microphone and a man with a large recording camera both stepped out of the van. The woman was seen talking to Dana and asking her a question, only for Dana to then point to Ben.

"Excuse me sir, are you Ben Ferris?" The woman asked as she made her way over to Ben.

"Um, yes, I am." Ben answered.

"Great. Amy Winter, news anchor for KBAY 7 News." She introduced as she extended her arm out to shake Ben's hand. "I heard that you're the young man who saved that girl's life. And the one who's also organizing this whole rally tonight. Would it be okay if we could ask you a couple of questions for an interview and broadcast some footage of the rally tonight?"

"Sure, I don't mind." Ben answered. He just hoped that there wouldn't be any more news stations coming, hoping to use tonight's event only to boost the ratings of their channels.

"By the way, will the footage be broadcasted on live TV?" Ben questioned.

"Of course, 'Live and only on Channel 7' as we always say. She explained to Ben.

"That's great. Could you just give me a quick second? Then I'll be ready for being interviewed." Ben asked the anchorwoman politely.

"Yes, take your time." She replied.

Ben then pulled out his phone and went to his contacts to immediately text Kate. She was still being kept at the hospital until the next morning when her family would arrive, meaning she wasn't going to be at her own rally. But that didn't mean that she would have to miss out on it completely.

**_Ben:_ **

**_Hey, Kate, Good news! The rally is going to be live on the news tonight, so you can still see it. Just tune in to channel 7 if you're around a TV at the hospital._ **

* * *

Kate sat on the hospital bed, her legs folded as she had just finished her homework for class and was about to put some of her new ideas for drawings on some paper. All of a sudden she heard her phone go off and reached for it on the table near the bed. As she saw that she had an unread message sent from Ben, she was eager to open her messages and read it. After reading the wonderful information that Ben had shared with her in the message, she quickly replied back to him.

**_Kate:_ **

**_Oh wow! That's amazing Ben! I have a TV in my hospital room that I can watch it on. Thank you :)_ **

As Kate put down her phone, she grabbed the remote that controlled the TV in her room, immediately turning to channel 7. She had just tuned in to see that an anchorwoman was at Blackwell, holding a microphone in her hand and speaking. Kate noticed in the background that there were students holding signs that read inspirational messages like "You're not alone!" and "Blackwell is with you, Kate!". Suddenly, her attention was brought back to the woman who was speaking on the TV.

"I'm here in front of Blackwell Academy, where students are standing outside and gathering around in support of fellow student Kate Marsh. The young girl who attempted to commit suicide earlier this week." The woman spoke.

Kate couldn't help but look away at the screen and down at her hands after hearing that. She was completely aware of what she tried to do two days ago at Blackwell and she didn't need to be reminded about it. It only made her wonder too if people where just standing out there with those signs they made for her out of pity more than sympathy. Most of those people out there were the ones who brought so much pain to her by mocking her faith and views on sex and even believing that she would actually kiss several strangers at a party. They had to have been hypocrites for attending this rally and the only reason they were there was because the Vortex Club's "End of the World" Party had been cancelled, meaning that they had nothing else to do on a Thursday night. But Kate tried her very best not to let herself think this way. She had to remember Ben's words, how she needed to prove to the bullies that she was strong. How there really were people in her life who loved her and wanted to help her. As she thought back to the things he told her, she felt more confident in herself again and looked up to gaze at the TV screen once more.

"Now, standing with me right here is Ben Ferris, the captain of Blackwell's football team and Class president, who organized tonight's event." The anchorwoman spoke as the camera shifted over to have her and Ben in its view.

"Ben, I was told by Principal Wells that this event was planned by you just yesterday and meant to replace a highly anticipated party that was scheduled for tonight. Why is that?" She then asked Ben.

"Well, I think it's simple really. It's completely disrespectful to be having a party just two days after one of our own classmates and friends here at Blackwell attempted to take her own life. Instead, the student body should come together to help show Kate that we're all here for her and that she has people who she can rely on that'll help her get through things." Ben proudly answered.

"That's very thoughtful of you. And if you could give one piece of advice to people out there who are experiencing any sort of bullying at all or even deal with any depressing or suicidal thoughts, what would it be?" She then questioned.

Kate was intrigued to hear what Ben's answer to this question would be. She leaned in with anticipation as if she was watching a soap opera and waiting to hear a character on the show reveal a dire secret to everyone. Ben had looked into the camera and began to spoke.

Ben paused and took a deep breath before he spoke again. "I would say to anyone experiencing those kind of feelings to always remember to never give up. It might not seem like it, but there are and always will be people in your life who truly care about you, love you, and want to help you."

Kate had covered her mouth with both hands as she was astonished by how Ben had answered both of those questions. He seemed so professional and honest when he was on the television. She noticed that his second answer was very reminiscent of what he had told her when visiting her yesterday. She smiled as she noticed how Ben looked like a natural up there on TV and just became an inspiration for the many other individuals out there going through the same things as her.

"He really does care." She said to herself as she still stared at the screen.

* * *

The rally had already gone on for a little more than an hour. Ben was amazed to see the turnout for the event and realized that it wouldn't be possible at all without the commitment and support of everyone at Blackwell. He hadn't talked to Kate since he messaged her that the rally would be live on the news. He just hoped that she was able to watch it somewhere in the hospital and that she was smiling at how many people really cared for her. Suddenly his thoughts had come to a stop as he felt two arms wrap around his neck and he heard a familiar voice shout in his ear.

"Surprise, motherfucker!"

Ben immediately turned around to see that it was Chloe hugging him from behind, while Max and Warren were catching up with her.

"Shit! Chloe, you almost gave me a heart attack." Ben proclaimed as he nudged her arm.

"Oh come on, I've done worse things to you." She teased.

"That you have. I'm glad you could make it." He replied.

"Of course, I heard about how you met our mutual friend, Max the other day." Chloe mentioned as she pointed to Max who was talking with Warren.

"Yeah, she also filled me in on the whole deal with Nathan Prescott, potential school shooter." Ben replied

"I heard. I also heard that you got his punk ass suspended. High five, brotha!" Chloe stated as she put up her hand to Ben, who gave her five.

"He'll be back though." He said sadly.

"True, but tonight's not about Nathan. It's about Kate. Max told me about all the kind of shit she was going through and everything you did to help her. And you saved her life. I always knew you were gonna do great things one day." Chloe expressed trying to take Ben's mind off his angst about Nathan.

"Hey there, Ben!" He heard from another voice. He turned around to see that it was Mr. Jefferson greeting him.

"Oh! hey, Mr. Jefferson. I didn't know you would be here too." Ben replied.

"Why wouldn't I be? I wouldn't miss an event supporting one of my fellow students. And I'm about to present the winner for the Everyday Heroes contest. It's a shame I don't have you in my Photography class, Ben. You would have been a perfect candidate for the contest." Mr. Jefferson mentioned.

As Totem Pole had just finished playing one of their songs on the stage, Principal Wells had walked up and grabbed the microphone that Steve was using to sing with, to make an announcement to everyone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please give another round of applause for Totem Pole for performing tonight."

The mass of students present had clapped and roared as loud as they could.

"Also, can we have another round of applause for Ben Ferris, who generously planned and organized this event for Kate Marsh in such a short amount of time."

The students had applauded once more and even some of them had cheerfully shouted Ben's name.

"Now, please help me welcome Mr. Jefferson, who has an important announcement to make." Jefferson began to make his way over to the stage while everyone began to cheer for their favorite teacher at Blackwell. He then accepted the microphone from Wells before making his announcement.

"Thank you everyone. I don't mean to get in the way of such a heartfelt event, but it is time to announce the winner of the Everyday Heroes contest." Jefferson mentioned as the students still applauded him. "Before I do, I'd like to thank everyone who submitted a photograph and everybody who thought about entering."

The entire crowd went completely silent as everyone waited for the moment of truth.

"Now this is the most important step in being an artist; sharing your work with the world. All of you represent Blackwell Academy, and what our school stands for. And as far as I'm concerned, being out here tonight for one of your fellow classmates makes you all Everyday Heroes. And the winner is..." He then opened up an envelope he took out of his pocket.

"Oh my, what a shocker... Victoria Chase!"

The crowd went wild in reaction to the news of Victoria being announced as the winner of the contest. Many of the students weren't even surprised as they knew she had such a passion for art and photography. Victoria walked up to accept the microphone from Mr. Jefferson, ready to make her speech that she had probably planned before even finding out that she would win.

"Thank you, Mr. Jefferson! It was your incredible photography that brought me to Blackwell and I hope I can live up to your name... and fame." Victoria spoke with pride.

"Who is she really trying to fool with this speech?" Chloe whispered to Ben.

"Everyone at Blackwell with their head in their ass, as usual." He whispered back.

"I also want to thank all the students for being so dedicated to their pursuits. And I'd like to dedicate this prize to Kate Marsh. She is the real Everyday Hero at Blackwell and I can't wait for her to come back. Thank you." Victoria addressed. She then walked off the stage as there was a loud applause that followed.

Ben was surprised to even hear Victoria mention Kate in her speech in such a way. If it was still Monday, he would have felt that the name Kate Marsh shouldn't even have been allowed for Victoria say. But maybe Kate was right. Maybe people did deserve to be forgiven and they could in fact redeem themselves for what they had done wrong. Something told Ben that while Victoria may have been the Queen Bitch of Blackwell, that didn't mean she had a heart of ice. He then noticed Chloe, looking in a different direction from him as she had an annoyed look on her face.

"Ugh, I wish those two would just make out already." She commented staring at Max and Warren who were taking a selfie together on Max's Polaroid.

"Oh, am I detecting a hint of jealously, Miss Price?" Ben teased.

"What are you, a matchmaker all of a sudden?" Chloe retorted as she began to blush. "Speaking of which, Max said she heard it through the grapevine that you and Kate started to get a little chummy with each other when you went to see her at the hospital yesterday."

"Yeah, we've been starting to become friends lately, after everything that's happened." Ben explained.

"Just friends?" She said as she elbowed Ben.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ben questioned. The two of them then noticed that Steve took back the microphone to make an announcement on behalf of Totem Pole.

"Alright Blackwell, let me just say that it's been an honor playing for tonight's event, and we've got one last song for you guys. This one is a special request that goes out to Kate Marsh, which was made by our very own Mr. Blackwell Bigfoot himself, Ben Ferris." Steve announced as he placed the mic back into his holder and grasped his guitar.

"A request? I didn't make a request." Ben admitted confusingly while looking at Chloe.

Totem Pole began playing their final song for everyone, which was a cover of the song  _Buddy Holly_  by Weezer. It was a popular rock song from the '90s that was about defending a platonic female friend from being bullied. It seemed like a perfect inspirational and uplifting song of choice for the event and a great way to end the night. But Ben was still curious as to who requested the song and who made it under his own name.

As the rally had finally come to an end, students began to make their way back to their dormitories as curfew was about to go into effect. The students that volunteered to help set up were now helping to break down the stage. Ben heard his phone beep to hear that he had a message sent to him. He pulled out his phone from his pocket to see that it was Kate.

**_Kate:_ **

**_Words can't even describe how beautiful the rally was tonight. I actually cried a few times but they were tears of joy this time. Thank you so much, Ben! Have a good night :)_ **

Before replying back, he checked in with Steve and his bandmates to see if they were all set with everything.

"You guys need a hand with anything?" Ben asked.

"Thanks, but we're all good over here. Great turnout for a great cause, Ben." Steve replied as he fist bumped with Ben. "Oh and by the way, that request you made was on the house." He added with a wink before walking off with his fellow band mates.

Ben's previous question had finally been answered. But why did they go out of their way to make it seem like Ben requested such a special song for Kate? That was the question of the night. As he walked back to his dorm, he made sure to message Kate back before he forgot, even if she was fast asleep already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you have it guys! I got a lot of inspiration for this chapter from Episode 4 of LiS. Particularly when Kate got a letter from Principal Wells, mentioning that a rally in her support would take place and in a dialogue when Ms. Grant mentioned how it seemed distasteful to still have the "End of the World" Party after Kate's attempted/ successful suicide. I know things might seem repetitive with having the same dialogue from the game at certain moments, but I'm planning on having some new scenarios and unique dialogues between characters in future chapters since there won't be a tornado that hits Arcadia Bay in this story's timeline. After all, this is meant to be Ben and Kate's story so move over, Max and Chloe. Pretty soon there will be chapters that take place after the week of the game's events.


	9. Friday Night Bigfoots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, for keeping everyone waiting for so long. Things have been busy with school and my extracurriculars but life is still good. I've been feeling really accomplished with everything as of late and was waiting to start writing again and update this story. Which is why I'm back with a very big update. And by that I mean, new story title, new synopsis, but same story. I hope there's no confusion with this and I hope some of you will still be reading as I have a lot of great stuff planned in the future!

As he lay in his bed, Ben couldn't resist his body's urge to constantly twist and turn. He had a look of distress on his face and was in a cold sweat. It could have only meant that he had been dreaming about something unpleasant. He was in such a deep sleep that he couldn't hear himself repeatedly murmuring Kate's name over and over to himself. Suddenly, he had stopped as he began to say himself "Ronnie, don't go.", to which he was becoming conscious to actually hear himself say. Ben then woke up in his cold sweat and was completely alert.

He sat up on his bed as his feet touched the floor and he placed his hands on his face, trying to take deep breaths. As he felt a sharp twist in his stomach, he had bolted over to his trash bin and vomited right inside of it. This wasn't a typical thing to happen to Ben. He figured that it was just a buildup of nerves, considering today was the day the Bigfoots would be going up against their rivals. It was most likely from all of the other events he got involved with. Everything that happened with Kate involving Nathan, Victoria, and David. It had been a crazy week. Hopefully, if tonight's game was a total victory he could celebrate the big win with all of the teammates since the Vortex Club would throw a party for them anyway. Then, he could just sit back and relax for the rest of the weekend and hope that things would go much better starting next Monday.

After Ben started feeling like his usual self again, he cleaned out his trash bin and placed a new garbage bag inside of it, then grabbed his shower caddy and walked down to the bathrooms to take a nice cold shower, hoping that it would help him stay wide awake throughout the day. As he stood in the shower, he thought about how badly he slept last night, despite how the rally for Kate went so smoothly. Ben just hated having bad dreams, especially ones that got too personal and this one was just a prime example. He hadn't heard or said the name "Ronnie" in a very long time and he hoped he would never have to ever again. As soon as he shut off the water and dried himself off, he stepped out of the shower cubicle with his towel wrapped around his waist and walked over to the sinks with his caddy as he saw Warren brushing his teeth.

"Sup, Warren?" Ben asked as he approached the sink next to him.

"Not much Ben. I'm just counting down to get out of class today ASAP." Warren expressed to Ben.

"Really? The first class of the day hasn't even started yet."

"I know, I'm just excited is all. I'm going to this drive-in movie theater tonight to see a  _Planet of the Apes_  marathon."

"Warren, you're breaking my heart." Ben cried dramatically. "You're going to a movie marathon instead of seeing yours truly, take on the Sunnydale Razorbacks. All I can say is that tonight at seven on the football field is where the real  _Planet of the Apes_  happens. Spoiler alert: they all get stomped on by an army of Bigfoots."

"Aw, don't take it too personally dude, you're still number one in my heart. These tickets were a bitch to get though. Anyone who's ever seen the classic Ape films knows just how much of cult classics they are."

"Fair enough. I've only seen the last one that had James Franco in it and it was definitely one of the best monkey movies I've ever seen."

"I thought so too. But Charlton Heston's performance in the original film was by far ahead of his time, which makes it so memorable. What's even more exciting is that I'm taking Max with me tonight."

"Sweet! I always thought that you and Brooke from our science class had a thing for each other though." Ben mentioned.

"Really? Where did you hear that?"

"Just a thought was all. But it's good to hear that you and Max are becoming more acquainted with each other. I saw the two of you talking together at the rally last night."

"Oh yeah, things are going well between us. Sometimes it just feels like she's completely oblivious to my gestures and doesn't even get a hint." Warren stated as he sounded somewhat annoyed.

"Don't worry, she'll pick up on it soon. Believe or not, I think Max is kind of lucky to have a small number of friends here at Blackwell like you and Kate. It means that she's bound to spend more time with you. Unlike me, I have to try to balance time with all the guys on the team and everyone in the Vortex Club who I'm close with, which is a lot harder than it seems."

"I actually never thought of it that way, Ben."

"Neither have I, until now. Just keep being friends with Max and take things slow. What you two have right now is nice, and who knows, it might just grow into something bigger someday."

"Wow, thanks, Ben! You might just be another jock who's in the Vortex Club, but there's something about you that makes you different from the rest. Like how you helped out Kate."

"Any time bud. And thanks!" Ben said. "By the way, I was thinking about maybe trying to find a time for the two of us to chill together sometime. We could even bring Kate and Max along too."

"Absolutely man, I think it's weird how the two of us are good friends outside of class, but we never hangout. We should make plans with the ladies sometime next week." Warren suggested. "Good luck tonight!"

"Thanks Warren! And have fun at the drive-in." Ben said before he left the bathroom.

As Ben was back in his room he changed into a pair of dark blue jeans, a grey v-neck t-shirt, his usual pair of converse, and his varsity jacket. Ben would always wear at least one article of football related apparel on the day of a game. He saw it almost as a good luck charm, which seemed to have worked, considering the team was undefeated so far. He then grabbed a football that sat on his desk, which had been signed by him and all of the other players on the team. He had them all sign it for Kate last night while they were at the rally, and was planning to give it to her at the hospital this morning. As he left the dormitory, he walked over to his car in the parking lot, placed the autographed football at the bottom in the passenger seat, and left campus to grab some breakfast at the Two Whales Diner.

* * *

As Ben pulled into the parking lot on the left side of the Diner, he found an empty space to park his car. Just as he stepped out and walked over to the front entrance, he could already smell the fresh aroma of the Diner's amazing breakfast food, which hit him even harder as he walked inside. As he stood inside the Diner entrance, he looked around the interior of the place to see truckers, fishermen, and even a police officer occupying the counter while enjoying their breakfast, reading the newspaper, or trying their hardest to stay awake. He looked to his left and right to see if any of the booths were vacant, to which he saw groups of fellow students and even elderly couples eating and conversing amongst each other. As he looked to his right he saw that the last booth all the way at the end was unoccupied, so he walked down there before anyone else claimed it. Just before he sat down, he felt obliged to handle the music situation currently on the jukebox. There was a country song playing, most likely chosen by one of the truckers, which only reminded Ben about how much he hated country music.

"Time to show these people what real music is." Ben said to himself as he pulled out a dollar bill from his wallet and inserted it into the jukebox, ready to select his song of choice.

Ben was then satisfied as he heard the opening bassline of Earth, Wind, & Fire's  _Shining Star._ As there was a mixed reaction to the change in music from the patrons in the diner, Ben happily bobbed his head to the beat of the song and walked over to the empty booth to take a seat. As he looked out of the window, he heard the familiar voice of a woman with a southern accent who was approaching the booth.

"Well, I'll be... Ben Ferris, is that you?" The woman asked. Ben turned his head to see who it was that addressed him.

"As I live and breathe. How are you, Joyce?" Ben replied happily.

"Doing just fine, honey. You look so much like your parents." Joyce said as she couldn't remember when was the last time she saw Ben. "Chloe told me about how happy she was to see you again over the summer and now here you are, back in Arcadia Bay attending Blackwell Academy."

"It's great to see you and Chloe again. I actually just caught up with her earlier this week after class. And school's been great at Blackwell so far."

"Well it must be. It's only your first year there and you're already leading the Bigfoots to victory. And don't think I haven't heard what you did for that girl earlier this week. That was a very selfless and courageous thing you did to save her life."

"She was in a really dark place, Joyce." Ben stated, sounding somewhat sad. "I just felt like doing something when no one else gave a shit. Pardon my French."

"Good to see you still have your manners after all these years. Chloe could learn a thing or two from you." Joyce joked. "And you sure did something, without a doubt. I can't tell you how many times I've seen your face on the news or even in the papers. David even spoke highly of you the other day."

"He did?" Ben asked with shock.

"Oh, yes. And it's a bit funny considering how earlier this week, he came home from work huffing and puffing about how you decided to pick a fight with him. Now he didn't give me all of the details, but since I've known you longer than he has, I know that you must have had your reasons. You're a young man with a good heart, Ben. And never let anyone tell you otherwise."

"Yes ma'am." Ben replied.

"Good! How's Amanda doing back in San Francisco, by the way?"

"My mom's doing great, thanks for asking. After thirteen years of being divorced she's decided to start dating again and she's currently talking to some conceited douche who works in LA."

"Oh, now you shouldn't say those kind of things, honey. I know you probably don't like the idea of her meeting another man who isn't your own father, but she's probably doing it because she cares about you and wants a second chance at starting a family again." Joyce reassured.

"You really think so?"

"Of course I do. Chloe was experiencing the same kind of feelings as you when I first met David. It's all about transitioning and accepting change, and I think you'll adjust much easier than Chloe did. Personally, I can't see you dying your hair or getting any tattoos or piercings any time soon."

"You and me both, Joyce. I'm kinda happy with how I look anyway." Ben said as he laughed at Joyce's remark.

"Alright, now I don't have all day to chat with you. What are you having?"

"Well, I've got a big game tonight, so I was thinking the Apple Sausage Omelette and two slices of toast on the side would give me the energy I need to get through the day." He said.

"You got it 'Mr. Bigfoot'! Here's some coffee to keep you awake until your food gets here." Joyce poured some freshly brewed coffee from the pot she was holding into a clean white mug for Ben before she left to go behind the counter.

"Thanks, Joyce!" Ben said as he smiled and lifted the mug up to his lips as a sip of the hot Arcadia Bay Roast coffee had warmed up his entire body. He had felt that he made a good call. Breakfast at the Two Whales on a Friday morning was the best idea he had so far today. Being here brought him back to his childhood when times were simpler. The days when he and his parents would all go out for a nice Sunday brunch together and he would sit between his mom and dad and color on the kids menu that one of the waitresses would provide him. He wished that somehow, he had the power to rewind time and relive those memories before his parents decided to leave each other. As he was done thinking back to those memories, he saw the door of the Diner open to see that both Max and Chloe had entered. The two girls noticed him as they were trying to find somewhere to sit and walked over to join him at his booth.

"What's up Ben?" Max asked.

"Sup 'Ferris Bueller'?" Chloe addressed Ben.

"Hey ladies, join the party." Ben stated as he offered the open seats in the booth to them. Max sat down in the seat across from Ben.

"Ugh, seriously, who keeps playing this shit on the jukebox anyway?" Chloe sneered as she heard the sound of '70s funk music coming from the jukebox.

"You're welcome!" Ben said as he gave Chloe the hint that it was him who chose the music for the jukebox.

"Oh that's right, I keep forgetting you have weird taste in music." Chloe remarked jokingly as she switched the jukebox's music to punk rock, her personal penchant.

"You say werid, I say unique, Chloe." Ben replied. "So, Max, I hear you've got a special date tonight with Warren at the drive-in."

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it a date." Max said shyly. "It's more of just Warren and I hanging out together and spending some..."

"She's cheating on me." Chloe interrupted as she plopped down in the booth right next to Max. "Which means that I'll just to have make her jealous by coming to your game tonight to see you destroy some Razorbacks."

"Gee, thanks Chloe. I never took you as the sporty type to be honest." Ben commented.

"I mostly just wanna see your whole team win tonight so you can rub it in the other team's face. Also, their captain who happens to be the linebacker, is your typical grade-A preppy fuckboy."

"How so exactly?" Ben questioned.

"I meet him at the same bar I found Nathan at. He was hella wasted and I heard him bragging to all of his buddies that he could easily take me back home with him that night. He kept hitting on me and I told him I was nowhere no interested. Then he thought it would be a good idea to slap my ass."

"What did you do then?" Max asked.

"What do you think I did? I punched him square in his jaw and his front tooth fell right out."

"Holy shit, Chloe, that's awesome." Ben replied in awe by Chloe's reaction.

"Oh yeah! Wait til you see him tonight at the game. His gapped tooth and douchey haircut combined literally makes him look like Lloyd Christmas from  _Dumb and Dumber_." Chloe said as she couldn't help but laugh.

As the three continued to talk together, Joyce came back to the booth with Ben's food and was surprised to see that there were two more hungry mouths wanting to be fed.

"Here you go, Ben. Enjoy!" Joyce said.

"Thanks, Joyce." He replied.

"And it looks like some starving vultures decided to join you too." She added referring to Max and Chloe.

"Hi, Joyce." Max said.

"Good to see you again, Max. Is Chloe here to get another free breakfast from you again?" Joyce teased.

"Mom!" Chloe said, sounding embarrassed.

"Actually, you can put Chloe's meal on my tab, Joyce. It's the least I can do after everything she's done for me." Ben insisted as he got in between the two.

"Alright then, what are you two having?"

"Belgian Waffle, please." Max said politely.

"Scrambled Eggs and Bacon for me." Chloe said.

"Coming right up." Joyce said as she wrote down the orders and walked back behind the counter.

"So Ben, there's something Chloe and I have been meaning to talk to you about." Max said.

"Alright, what's up?" Ben questioned with interest.

"Chloe and I think that there might be some kind of connection between Rachel Amber's disappearance and what could have happened to Kate after she left the Vortex Club party with Nathan."

"Well that's the conspiracy theory of the day. Where exactly did you guys come up with that in the first place?" Ben asked sounding confused.

"We broke into the Principal's office the other night to get access to a couple of the student files and see if there was any useful info that could tell us something." Chloe explained.

"Are you serious? Max you could get expelled from Blackwell for doing something like that. And Chloe you could get arrested... I mean not that it's been your first time though." Ben expressed as he began to lecture the two.

"Yeah, no fucking shit Sherlock." Chloe said. "What's more important is that Max and I think my step-prick might be in cahoots with Nathan Prescott."

"Okay, now I feel like you're seriously yanking my chain. I know the three of us have a mutual hatred for those two, but how would they be possibly working together?"

"Because, we also browsed through the Principal's computer and we found Nathan's 'actual' student record which is filled with enough reports to get any other student kicked out of Blackwell. We even found out that he accused Rachel of bringing drugs on campus with her and David actually believed it. Ben, I think there's some weird blood-brothers pact going on between the two of them."

"And we've been meaning to do some more investigating but we stopped in our tracks and figured we could use your help." Max mentioned.

"Me? What do need my help with?" Ben asked.

"We thought about trying to sneak into Nathan's dorm room yesterday to see if he was hiding anything we could use as evidence. It's pretty risky since he's completely hostile to me and Max, but since you're friends with him and you're his next door neighbor, you'll be the last thing he expects. See where I'm going with this?" Chloe explained to Ben.

"Well, I guess you don't know this yet, but ever since I got Nathan expelled, we're not really on speaking terms anymore. Plus, it's bad enough that I almost murdered him in the boy's bathroom on Wednesday."

"What did he do now?" Max questioned.

"It had to do with Kate. He said that the only reason I stood up for her and saved her was because I pitied her. And then he started talking about trying to talk to her and using her for sex when she came back to Blackwell. So I went at his throat and warned him to never go anywhere near her." Ben said as looked down at his food, which he was cutting into smaller pieces with his cutlery.

"That little asshole. What stopped you from beating him down then?" Chloe asked.

"Him pointing a gun at me at point blank range. The same gun I'm guessing you two saw him with." Ben answered. "Look guys, I know you want to find out if Nathan actually has something to do with all of this, but at the end of the day, his family's money will buy the best lawyers and pay off the cops. For all we know, he could probably hire some kind of professional to destroy any kind of evidence, if that's even possible."

"So what are saying right now, Ben?" Chloe asked as she looked him in both eyes.

"I'm just saying that this kind of stuff is what the police are meant for. And now that Kate's alright, we should just focus on making sure that she feels safe at Blackwell from people like Nathan."

"Oh, so since Kate Marsh is still alive and well, that means you don't have to give a shit about what happened to Rachel? Chloe shouted at Ben, which attracted the attention of a few patrons in the diner.

Ben knew that Chloe was about to get emotional and wanted to clear things up with her. "Chloe, it's not like that. I just..."

"Stop pretending like you care when you obviously don't, Ben. You only just look out for yourself or the people that you have deep feelings for, like Kate." Chloe accused.

"That's not true." Ben shouted back.

"Bullshit! Why else would you go so far out of your way to protect her from people like my 'step-ass' or Victoria Chase? Or to save her own life and turn on your own friend, Nathan, just to help her. Or better yet, cancel the biggest party of the school year to throw a fucking rally for her when didn't even die. She obviously has you by the balls, Ben."

"Chloe..." Max intervened as she grabbed her best friends arm.

"No, Max. I'm bringing Ben back to reality so he can stop day dreaming about living in a perfect world with Kate Marsh." Chloe yelled.

"Chloe, stop." Ben said as he had a heated look on his face.

"No, I won't stop because right now, you're not the Ben Ferris I remember from three summers ago, if not the beginning of this week before you met Kate." Chloe barked in his face, now standing up and placing both hands on the table. "You and I both know that the only way you would actually help Max and I find out what happened to Kate and Rachel, is if Kate actually did jump off that roof."

Ben immediately got up out of his seat and he and Chloe were now face to face. He was completely furious at what Chloe was saying towards him. Max then got up from the booth and tried to break up the conflict between the two friends and an angry and confused Joyce arrived to the booth with both Chloe and Max's food, demanding to know why there were two teenagers both on edge with each other at the Diner.

"What is going on over here?" Joyce shouted.

"Don't mind us, Joyce. I was just leaving anyway." Ben said still eyeing Chloe angrily. Already finished with his breakfast, he placed his cash on the table, still paying for both his and Chloe's meals. "You're welcome for the free breakfast. Good luck finding Rachel without my help." He remarked as he bumped past Chloe and left the Diner.

As he walked back to his car, Ben tried his best not to think about what had just happened between him and his own friend back inside the Diner. Chloe knew that he was a good friend to her. He was always there for her when she needed to talk to someone about how hard things were whenever she missed her dad or that she felt like a social outcast at Blackwell. Even if Ben happened to be in a completely different state from her, he was just one phone call of text message away. Having been friends together for three summers, Chloe knew Ben well enough to know that none of those things she said about him back inside the Two Whales were true, nor did she actually mean them.

Ben had met Rachel Amber only once in his entire life. It was back at a house party that he and Chloe both attended together during the first summer when they met each other. Chloe introduced him to her and he remembered how Rachel commented to Chloe about how he was "cute, but dumb". Despite how much Ben had been drooling over her that night, she probably knew that he was still a virgin at the time. At one point during the party, Ben and Rachel actually began to have a conversation with each other and she had told him how she was a student at Blackwell studying Drama, who had dreams of one day becoming an actress and a model, who would hopefully make it big in LA one day. The way she described her studies was one of the reasons that convinced Ben to become a Drama student himself at Blackwell. Aside from that one encounter, Ben never saw Rachel again whenever he hung out with Chloe. He had a feeling that Chloe was much more closer to Rachel than she was with him and Max. She must have been the one who put up all of those missing posters of her around Blackwell and Arcadia Bay. Chloe was most likely getting more desperate each day to find Rachel. That could have been the only reason why she flipped out on Ben. He had only disagreed with her about further investigating because he didn't want her or Max to get hurt by Nathan or worse. Hopefully, Chloe would soon understand what Ben was suggesting and come to her senses. Hopefully.

* * *

After arriving at the hospital, Ben had checked in with the nurse at the front desk to let her know he would be visiting Kate again. He made his way up to the third floor and walked down the hall to her room. As he arrived at her room, he knocked on the door out of courtesy, considering it was still early in the morning.

"Come in." Kate said from the other side of the door.

Ben opened the door and stepped into the room. "Knock, knock." He said.

"Oh hi, Ben." Kate greeted as the boy entered.

"Hey, Kate." Ben replied. "How's it going?"

"Good. I'm just waiting to finally leave this hospital. I was starting to get bored after I ran out of ideas for new drawings. I'm surprised to see you back here again."

"Well, I just felt like you deserved more than one visit. And I wanted to give you this." He said as he showed her the football covered with signings from the entire team. "I got the whole team to sign it for you last night at the rally. It was one of the balls that we used in our first game this season that we won, and I felt that you should have it." Ben smiled as he handed Kate the ball and sat at the same chair across from her like he did during his last visit.

"Ben, that's so thoughtful of you. You've made me feel so blessed this entire week. And you didn't even have to go through all of this trouble for me."

"I know, Kate. I just felt like everyone was to blame for what happened to you. I had a feeling that they could still own up to their mistakes and make a difference. And I guess last night really proved it considering how the rally went."

"Well I'm glad to hear that you see the goodness in all people, Ben." Kate said. "I was surprised myself to see that Victoria dedicated her 'Everyday Heroes' prize to me. I hope things at Blackwell will really be different starting next week."

"That makes two of us. Are you coming to the game tonight? Being back at Blackwell and seeing a football game with all of your friends must be a great way to spend a Friday night."

"I wish I could go since I haven't been to any of the games yet. But I'm going home with my family this weekend after they come here to see me."

"You mean you're gonna miss out on the biggest game of the season? Unacceptable, Kate." Ben teased.

"Believe me, Ben, I would love to come to your game tonight to support you after everything you've done for me. But being home for the weekend with my parents was their idea and not mine." Kate insisted. "At least I'll be able to spend some time with my sisters."

"Where are you guys from exactly?"

"Where all the way from Hillsboro. It's about an hour and a half from Arcadia Bay. It's a nice town with a bunch of parks and shops." Kate explained to Ben. "And yourself?"

"I was born here in Arcadia Bay, but then I moved to San Francisco with my mom. I've lived there for the past thirteen years before moving back here to attend Blackwell."

"San Francisco? You know, I've always wanted to visit there some day. It looks so beautiful from all of the pictures that I've seen."

"Yeah, it's definitely something to be amazed by when you set foot there for the first time. I kind of miss it sometimes, but it's good to be back in my home and native land, and I'm not talking about Canada."

Kate couldn't help but laugh at Ben's comment before she spoke. "That was pretty funny to be honest."

"It must have been. I think that's probably the first time I've ever seen you laugh." Ben commented

"You know, Ben, I'm surprised that we don't have any classes together. Why is that?" Kate wondered.

"I don't really know. What are you studying at Blackwell anyway?" He asked,

"I'm an Art student." she answered. "Which means my core classes include Art of Photography, Drawing, and even Art History, which is my least favorite. How about you?"

"I'm studying Drama and Film studies. So that means you can find me in the classes like Art of Drama, Video Production, and the Art of Film."

"Oh, I've heard great things from my friends about the film class. I was interested in signing up for it back at the summer orientation. My parents wouldn't let me when they found out you watch a lot of R-rated movies in the class." Kate shared.

Ben looked at Kate as he was shocked to hear that. He was speechless to hear how she was forbidden to watch R-rated films. She was an 18 year-old student, a legal adult. She was old enough to make her own decisions and create her own schedule. But maybe her parents, who were no doubt the catalyst of her faith, had enforced such conservative views in her life regarding violence and sex in movies. After all, Kate was the one leading an abstinence campaign at school.

"Well I mean, not all of the films we watch are rated R. So far we've only seen  _Fargo_ , which is rated R. And then we saw  _Pulp Fiction_ , which is... also rated R. But after those two, we actually saw this great romantic-drama called  _Revolutionary Road_  which was... actually I think that one was rated R too. I should probably just change the subject now." Ben said.

"It's okay, Ben. You don't have to try and convince me." Kate said as she laughed at Ben's poor attempt to reassure her. "Sometimes, I kind of get the feeling that maybe my parents don't want me to watch that kind of stuff because it might be harmful to my soul and my faith."

"Now that we brought it up, I'll never forget when I turned seventeen last year and tried convincing my parents that I was mature enough to watch R-rated movies. They told me no though. So one night, I decided to watch  _The Passion of the Christ_  on my laptop in my room, when everyone else was asleep. Worst mistake ever. I couldn't sleep for a week after I saw that movie." Kate confessed.

"Damn, Kate, I never saw you as the rebellious type. I gotta give you props though. I've seen that movie once and it's pretty hard to watch with all of the scenes of Jesus being whipped and beaten and whatnot."

"Ben, can I ask you a question?" Kate said shyly as she looked down at the football she was holding in her hands.

"You just did." Ben wisecracked as he grinned at Kate.

"What? Oh, hardy har." Kate replied as she rolled her eyes in reaction to Ben's cheap one-liner. "I actually have a serious question for you."

"Okay, ask away?"

"So, back when we were on the roof together, you mentioned that you weren't very religious, meaning that you probably have some faith. And you even said how you didn't believe in miracles. I know I shouldn't still be thinking about what happened earlier this week, but I guess what I'm trying to ask you is... do you believe in God?"

"Well, to be honest with you, I do. I always felt that it's good to believe that there is some kind of eternal spirit out there who's waiting to meet us in a sort of afterlife." Ben stated. "There was even a time where I would go to church with my grandma on Sundays. It was kind of a way for me to find some closure after my parents got a divorce."

"Sorry about your parents. I've heard stories from some of my friends whose parents are separated, so I can only imagine what you had to go through." Kate said with sincerity. "It's good to know that God's word helped you cope with something like that though. So do you still practice?" Kate asked with curiosity.

"Unfortunately, I lost my faith years ago. I stopped going to church with my grandma, but we still keep in touch to this day."

"That's such a shame. Do you mind me asking what exactly made you stop believing?"

"No offense, but I actually do mind. It's just something I'm not exactly comfortable sharing with people."

Kate picked up on Ben's reserved tone and decided not to press him to tell her what exactly caused him to stop believing. "I understand." She simply said. "By the way, I'm not sure if I've told you yet, but I was actually drug tested when I first came to the hospital." Kate mentioned as she decided to change the subject.

"So did they find anything in your system?" Ben asked.

"They did. It happened to be something called Flunitrazepam, if I pronounced that correctly. The doctor said that people often call it 'roofies', but I've never heard that name before."

"Shit, Kate, this is a big deal. This means that you really were drugged and you can use that proof against Nathan, now."

"I know. Max and her friend are also trying to help me too. She mentioned yesterday that she was going to ask for your help in taking down Nathan."

"Yeah, we talked not too long ago. it's gonna be tricky trying to stop Nathan."

"I hope you do soon, Ben. I still feel bad being the reason why he was suspended. And I'm worried he might try to come after me when I come back to school next week." Kate expressed with concern.

"Don't worry at all, Kate. I won't let him hurt you, not like last time. Me, Max, and everyone else at Blackwell have you're back, so you're not alone."

"Thanks, Ben. I know that I count on you." Kate said smiling at Ben.

"I should probably get ready to hit the road. I have class pretty soon and I don't wanna get stuck in any traffic." Ben said as he looked at the clock in the room.

"Are you sure you can't stay a little longer? My parents will be here to pick me up any minute and they were hoping to meet you after all you've done for me."

"I'm sorry, Kate. I guess I'll just have to catch them next time they're in town."

"I suppose you always could. Good luck in your game tonight!"

"Thanks, Kate. Remember, we're winning it for you tonight. Have a good weekend!"

"Thanks, Ben! You too." Kate replied as Ben walked out of her hospital room.

* * *

"Katie, we're home now." A voice told Kate as she was waking up. Kate remembered that she was sitting in the backseat of her parent's Toyota Highlander, right by the window on the left side. She looked to her right to see who was calling her name, only to realize that it was another blonde haired girl with a bright smile. It was her younger sister, Lynn.

"Oh, hi Lynn. I didn't even know I fell asleep in the car." Kate said as she yawned. She opened the door to let her and her sister out as the car was now parked in the garage that was connected to the Marsh family's house.

"We missed you so much while you were away at school." Proclaimed Emma, Kate's other sister, who wore glasses.

"It is good to be home for a change." Kate admitted. "Maybe tonight, the three of us could watch a movie together, just like old times." She suggested.

"Yes!" The two girls shouted in excitement.

"Can we watch  _Tangled_?" Lynn asked.

"We watched that last weekend together, so you don't get to decide this time." Emma argued.

"I do happen to know all of the Disney movies by heart, and I'm sure there's some you two haven't seen before. Why don't all three of us decide on a movie to watch after dinner?" Kate stated.

"Yes! It'll be so much fun." Lynn said with joy.

"It looks like both Emma and Lynn missed their big sister. We're so blessed that you're okay, Katie." Said Kate's father. He was a man that was much taller than Kate, who had blonde hair that receded at the top of his forehead and wore a pair of eyeglasses.

"Thank you, Daddy! I'm just ready to be back at Blackwell on Monday."

"You will be before you know it. We all just wanted to see you again before you go back to school. Everyone at church especially wants to see you too." He said. "And you're mother and I wanted to talk to you too at some point." He added as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Richard, will you help me unload Kate's suitcase out of the car please?" Asked Kate's mother who had opened up the trunk of the car.

"Sure thing, dear." He replied. "Why don't you go on inside with the girls, Katie. We'll talk later, okay?"

"Okay." Kate said happily as she walked through the garage door and was now inside of the house.

Kate walked upstairs and went straight to her room. As she opened the door, she was glad to see the familiar surroundings that she remembered gazing at before she left to move in at Blackwell. On the top of her dresser sat pictures that were taken from when she was younger. There was one of her smiling with Lynn and Emma at the beach, another of her standing on the steps outside of her church, wearing a blue sundress she cherished, and one where she was smiling and holding Alice when she first got her on her sixteenth birthday. She even looked at her wall above her bed to see the poster of her favorite Christian rock band when she was in middle school.

Sure it felt good for Kate to be home with her family, who she hadn't seen since leaving for school, but in all of her honesty, she felt completely bored. She did have her sisters to keep her company for the weekend, but what she wanted more than anything else was to be back at Blackwell with her friends. If her parents weren't so over protective of her, they probably would have just spent some of the day in Arcadia Bay with her, treated her out for lunch and dropped her off at Blackwell before saying their goodbyes. She could have been spending her Friday night out in the bleachers with Max, Warren, Stella, Alyssa, and others, watching and cheering on the Bigfoots as they played in their biggest game of the season. Most of all, she could have been there to see Ben play and support him in return for all of the care and support he showed her. She did feel bad about missing tonight's game, but there would be more home games to follow later on in the season. After thinking to herself about this, she kicked off her white sneakers and plopped down on her bed. Staring at the ceiling of her room, she couldn't figure out what to do at the moment. During times like this she would either play her violin or let Alice out of her cage to frolic around in her room. The only thing was that her violin was back in her room at Blackwell and Alice was being looked after by Max. One thing she didn't forget to take home with her was her diary. She grabbed it from her room when her parents stopped at her dorm for her to pack up some things for the weekend. No one who lived on her floor had seen her as classes were still in session at the time. As she opened up her bag, she pulled out her sky blue diary which had stickers of a dove, a cross, and a picture of Jesus on the front cover of it. From time to time, Kate would write entries in her diary about how she felt or if anything special occurred in her life. She opened up the diary to a blank page and realized that she hadn't written an entry since she had attended the party. But today, she felt like getting back into it and writing an entry on some of the thoughts and feelings that were currently in her head at the moment.

* * *

**Kate Diary Entry, October 11** **th** **:**

I'm so glad this week is finally over. I had never felt so lost and alone in my entire life before. In the beginning of the school year, I tried my best to ignore all of the bullying and name calling from people who made fun of me because of my faith and my beliefs in abstinence, but it only weakened me as time passed. Then, it felt like my world had turned upside down after one little mistake that I made, which only caused people at school to shame me for it. I truly thought that no one cared about me or wanted to help me.

But one person came to me and helped me believe again. His name is Ben Ferris, he's the captain of the football team at Blackwell and he's also a member of the Vortex Club, but none of that mattered. I only met him for the first time this week and I feel like he must be an angel that was sent by God to give me a reason to never give up on my faith. He truly helped me out of such a dark place more than anyone else. My parents and my sisters feel so indebted to him and they were hoping to meet him today when they picked me up from the hospital.

Ben was also the only person to visit me twice while I was in the hospital this week. He didn't even have to do that. While I've only known Ben since the beginning of this week, I feel like he really listens to me and understands what it is that I'm going through. And he's not like some of the other boys on the football team that I have class with like Zach and Logan, who are rude and obnoxious. Ben seems very genuine and respectful. I really should consider being friends with him. I'm glad that he knows Max and Warren also. Maybe I should try to schedule a little date for the four of us to hang out and spend time with each other.

I still think it was so nice and thoughtful of Ben to visit me today at the hospital. After being there for nearly four days, I was really getting bored and starting to feel more like a prisoner than a patient. But Ben really brightened up my day when he stopped by. I never knew that he was so funny. And he has such a bright smile too. He really is a cutie-pie. It's no wonder that girls like Victoria and Taylor are always talking about him in class. But I'm sure someone like him has a girlfriend. It's probably Dana if anything. I've seen the two of them talking and laughing with each other in the hallways after class and they seem to know each other really well ever since the first day of school. Whoever his girlfriend is, I'm sure she must be really lucky to have someone like him as a boyfriend. Which means that Ben probably just came to visit me to drop off that football he and his teammates signed for me. He wouldn't want anything to do with someone like me anyway. I'm just nothing like the other girls that the guys at school go crazy for. The ones who have big boobs or a big butt, or even have a pretty face for the most part. And the fact that I can't have sex until I'm married would only just make him even less interested in me.

I still can't help but think about what had caused him to abandon his faith. I wonder if he might have experienced something traumatic in his life. What could have happened to him when he was younger? Maybe his parents' divorce got harder for him to deal with over the years. I wonder if he was bullied in school too once. Maybe that's why he's showed so much concern for me this week, because he could relate to what I experienced. Whatever it was that happened to him, he doesn't deserve to suffer, or be miserable. I really do want to help him. I just hope he'll be comfortable to share what happened one day. Maybe I could even help him believe again just like he helped me believe again.

* * *

Hours had passed after Kate wrapped up her lengthy diary entry. As she laid in her bed, she was in deep thought about what her friends could have been doing at Blackwell right now. They were probably grabbing a bite to eat at the Two Whales or hanging around campus waiting for the game to start. She wondered how Ben was feeling about his big game tonight, if he was more excited than nervous or vice-versa. She then speculated if he had a special someone in his life who would be watching him from the bleachers or the sidelines, leading his team to victory. While it did make for a perfect love story, Kate snapped out of the thought as thinking about it more started to make her feel sad. As she averted from her daze, she heard the voice of her mother calling from downstairs.

"Girls, it's time for dinner. Could you help set the table, please?" She said.

"Coming!" Lynn and Emma both shouted back in reply. They made their way down the hall passing Kate's open door and proceeded downstairs.

"Kate, are you coming?" Her mother asked from downstairs.

"Yes, Mom. I'll be right there." She left her bed and walked out of her room, making her way downstairs to the dining room.

* * *

The Marsh family sat at their family dinner table, partaking in a conversation while having their leftover lasagna dinner. Kate noticed at dinner and from her time at the hospital that her typical appetite was back to normal. She had practically went two days without eating in the beginning of the week. She missed her mother's cooking as well and even went for a second helping.

"It's a shame we didn't get to meet that young man who went up on that roof with you, Katie. I can't believe we just missed him when we got to the hospital to pick you up." Kate's father said.

"I agree. I read an article which happened to mention him. He has quite the resume. Captain of the football team, class vice-president, and a member of the Vortex Club." Her mother included. "I'm not sure what that last group is though."

"It's nothing, really." Kate murmured as she stabbed her lasagna with her fork after hearing her mother mention the name of the Vortex Club. She decided not to explain to her parents what exactly this student led organization really was. True Ben was associated with the Vortex Club, but he shouldn't have been compared to its other members like Victoria or even worse, Nathan.

As Kate had finished up her second serving of lasagna, she felt Lynn tap her on the shoulder to get her attention.

"Are we still going to watch a movie tonight?" Lynn asked as she gazed into her older sister's eyes.

"Of course, Lynn." Kate reassured with a smile. "You, me, and Emma can head upstairs to decide on what we should watch."

The three girls had each gleamed with excitement and giddy to partake in their movie night just like old times. As they got up from the table and began to make their way upstairs, Kate was stopped by the voice of her mother calling her.

"Kate, could you sit back down please? You're father and I would like to talk with you." Her mother said.

"We'll wait for you upstairs, Katie." Emma said as she and Lynn left to give their parents privacy to talk to Kate.

Kate sat back in her chair and was now facing both her parents, who had moved to sit right across from her at the table. Kate looked and felt nervous in front of them, having a feeling that this probably wouldn't be a good talk. If it was something satisfying to discuss, then it probably would have been mentioned during their dinner.

"Kate, your father and I talked to each other about the recent events that occurred at your school." Her mother said in a calm voice. "We both began to feel that agreeing to let you attend Blackwell this year may have been a mistake."

"Mom, I can explain everything that's happened..."

"Let me finish!" She demanded, sounding impatient with her daughter. "Everyone has been made completely aware of that whole little party video you were in. Both your aunt and your grandmother reached out to me expressing concern and praying for you. And don't think anyone from our church group hasn't seen it either."

"That wasn't my fault. The doctors confirmed that I was drugged at that party after the test results came in. And it was another girl who put up that video." Kate protested in a shaky voice.

"Yes, but it was your own fault for attending that party in the first place. And what you tried to do on that roof of your own dormitory doesn't change the fact that suicide is a sin. It says so in Exodus 20:13." Her mother added.

"Mom!" Kate cried as her eyes teared up.

"Diane, please." Kate's father intervened as he placed his hand over his wife's on the table, trying to calm her down. "Katie, your mother and I care about you very much and we're only worried about you getting hurt when you're away from us. We just think that after everything you've been through, being at Blackwell might not exactly be what it was meant to be."

"What are saying then?" Kate questioned.

"We were thinking that maybe next semester, you should consider transferring to another school. That way, you can leave everything that's happened behind and have a fresh new start." Her father answered.

"Your father and I did some research and found one school in particular. It's a private Christian Academy for girls only. It will probably prevent you from getting any ideas about being promiscuous with any boys too." She stated.

"Mom, you don't understand." Kate shouted as she now had tears running down her face.

"I do understand, Kate. Sending you to Blackwell was a privilege, and it is not meant to be taken advantage of so you can take part in sinful activities and act like a harlot." She shouted. "You father and I will make our decision if you'll return to Blackwell for the second semester by Thanksgiving. And Kate, I hope you know that everyone will be praying for you at church on Sunday. That's all we have to say. You can go to your room now and pray for forgiveness."

Kate stood up from her chair and left the dining room, running up the stairs. Her eyes were puffy again, just like the beginning of this week. She ran to her room, slamming her door shut behind her and falling onto her bed, sobbing as she dismissed the fact that she and her sisters would watch a movie together after dinner. Kate was no longer in the mood to watch a movie or do anything with anyone else. She just wanted to be alone because it was exactly how she felt right now. Just as she believed how things were starting to get better for her, her parents were now against her and were currently deciding if she would return to finish her full year at Blackwell. The thought of her having to say goodbye to all of her friends so soon only made her produce even more tears. She only had a feeling of hopelessness inside of her. But she couldn't allow herself to think like this, not again. She had to be strong and let herself know that everything would be alright. Kate would get to see everyone at Blackwell for the spring semester and she would get to graduate with every single one of them as well.

As she looked at her alarm clock next to her bed she saw that it was now 6:30 PM, just 30 minutes left until the football game started. Something told her that she would feel better texting Ben to wish him and his teammates good luck in their big game. As she wiped her tears with one of the sleeves of her cardigan, she reached for her phone on her dresser and immediately began to type a message to send Ben, hoping that he would see it before stepping out on the field.

**_Kate:_ **

**_Hi Ben! Thank you for coming to visit me again today and for dropping off my gift from the whole football team. I just wanted to wish you and the rest of your teammates the best of luck tonight. I'll be saying a prayer for you before the game starts._ **

As she was counting on getting a reply back from him in a few minutes, Kate stood up from her bed and kneeled down against it, with her hands clasped together and against her head. She closed her eyes and titled her head towards the ceiling, beginning to speak.

"Heavenly father, I ask that you provide me with the strength and guidance I need to get through such a difficult situation with my mother and father. I also pray that you will watch over Ben and the rest of the Bigfoots in their game tonight and give them endless courage throughout the night." Kate spoke confidently. She then opened her eyes and saw that her phone vibrated, which meant that she had received a message. As she grabbed her phone she saw that it was a reply from Ben.

**_Ben:_ **

**_Thanks Kate! That means a lot. And like I said, we're gonna win this for you, I promise. I hope your weekend at home is going well so far._ **

Kate then held her phone tightly in her hands and placed it close to her chest. She then walked over to her window and looked out at the night sky, admiring its beauty. She then spoke to herself, finishing her prayer with several more words.

"And heavenly father, please keep him safe. Amen." She said.

* * *

Ben had just finished typing his message to Kate as he sat on a bench in the boys' locker room, facing his own locker. He was glad to have read it, knowing that she was still thinking of him and the rest of the team even though she couldn't be there to watch the game. There were usually a good amount of people that would always text him good luck, just moments before a game, typically his closest family members and friends. He would occasionally get the usual "good luck, we love you" messages from his adoring fans like Victoria, Taylor, and Courtney, who would include the basic x's and o's and heart emoji, and would be waiting to see him at the Vortex Party afterwards to congratulate him on his win and give him his "reward" when they saw him. But Ben didn't really feel like involving himself in any of that tonight. After winning tonight's game, he would be in the mood to celebrate with his teammates, but he felt like he wouldn't stay out that long. He definitely had no plans to hook up with anyone like he did at previous parties either. For some reason, all Ben could think about was Kate. He just thought back to how she had mentioned that her parents felt like they needed to protect her even more after what happened. He hoped that she wasn't locked in her room and being held captive by her parents acting as her jailers. As the thought had crossed his mind he saw that there were two more unread messages on his phone, one from his mom and one surprisingly from Nathan.

**_Mom:_ **

**_Good luck tonight! I'm so proud of you and I know that this is such a big game for you. Go Stomp Em Bigfoots!_ **

**_Nathan:_ **

**_Good luck in your big game tonight Benny-Boy! You're going to need it. I'll be watching you from the bleachers to see you shatter your collar bone haha._ **

Just as Ben finished reading the message from his caring mother and his so-called friend, he heard Coach Ferris enter the boys' locker room and grab the attention of all of his players.

"Alright, bring it in, boys!" He ordered as the team continued their banter between each other. "I said bring it in!" He shouted.

Every single player on the team went silent and began to make their way to front of the locker room. Some of them sat on the benches or on the floor while the rest of them stood. They all formed a sea of red with their jerseys that they wore in uniform.

Coach Ferris began to speak, now that he had the attention of every one of his players. "I just got back from taking a look at our field. Sunnydale just arrived and their waiting for all of you. But more importantly, those bleachers are filled to the very ends with all of your friends, classmates, teachers, and even family members, who are waiting to see you win tonight. You've all made it this far in the season without facing a single loss, so don't any of you get sloppy out on that field tonight." He said. "Is that clear?"

"Yes Coach!" The whole team replied.

"For the twenty years of my life that I've spent coaching this team, each and every one of you have made me proud this whole week as you've made acts of kindness off the field to keep a fellow student in your hearts." He mentioned as he looked at Ben, who was sitting in the front row of all of the players. "And that is the kind of representation of our school that this team should show more of. Now before I turn things over to your captain's I want you all to remind me what our one rule is at home games."

"We never lose at home." The team answered.

"Louder!" Coach Ferris replied.

"WE NEVER LOSE AT HOME!" The team shouted more intensely.

"Damn straight, boys! Ben, Riggins, why don't you two come up to take things from here."

Ben and Zach, who sat next to each other both looked right at each other and nodded before they stood up and walked over to where Coach Ferris stood. Now, facing their entire team in the locker room, they began to speak and get their team riled up with their usual pump up routine.

"Team, what are we?" Ben yelled.

"BLACKWELL BIGFOOTS!" The team answered.

"Who are we playing tonight?" Zach questioned.

"SUNNYDALE RAZORBACKS!" They replied.

"And what do we do to the opposing team when they step on our field?" He asked.

"STOMP EM!" They shouted.

"Hell yeah! Now let's get out there, do what we do best and remind those Razorbacks that they have another game to lose against us at the end of the season." Ben said.

"And they're gonna lose on their field." Zach added.

"And remember, we're winning this game for Kate." Ben reminded the team.

"FOR KATE!" The whole team shouted back.

The entire team was now fully charged and ready to take on their rivals by storm. They each grabbed their helmets, mouth guards, and other equipment, and left the locker room, now making their way to the they were getting closer to the field, the team could see the giant lights beaming in the night sky. The sound of the voices coming from the bleachers along with the music that was being played by the school's pep band were all familiar to everyone to know that this was the atmosphere of a high school football game about to take place. Ben had a tight grip on his helmet that was in his hands, as he led the large line of football players that were now standing just a few feet away from the makeshift banner that they would run right through in just a matter of seconds. The banner was always made by the members of the cheer squad for home games. There would always be one or two cheerleaders proudly holding up the giant white banner from both ends, which would read in giant red letters "STOMP 'EM BIGFOOTS!" For Ben, running through that banner and hearing the loud screams from spectators never got old for him. A voice began to emit from the loud speakers attached to a booth above the bleachers. This was where each of the following plays of the game would be announced by Juliet Watson. Juliet wasn't just the reporter for the Blackwell Totem, but also everyone's favorite announcer for the school's football games. She was said by most people to have the perfect "golden voice" for announcing and delivering coverage of the game to everyone with so much excitement. Juliet had a few valid reasons to be volunteering to broadcast live coverage of the game to everyone, like how she loved the game of football, announcing each of the plays would make things easier for her to write an article for the Totem's sports section, and that she had the perfect overhead view to watch her boyfriend, Zach, in action on the field.

"And now ladies and gentlemen, please help me in welcoming your very own, Blackwell Bigfoots!" Juliet shouted lively.

The entire Blackwell fan section roared with enthusiasm as the team burst through the banner and ran onto the field. Ben was able to spot the sea of familiar faces, all eager to see the biggest game of the season. He had a good glimpse of the entire opposing team, clad in their yellow and burgundy uniforms and standing tall and doing their best to look intimidating on the field.

"And now, introducing both of this year's captains. Number 70, Zachary Riggins, *cough, cough* I love you! And Number 17, our hero of Blackwell himself, Benjamin Ferris." She said through the microphone.

"That's our cue." Zach stated as he nudged Ben. The two then made their way to the center of the field to meet the referee and the captains of the other team.

The boys were now met by the ref, who was a short elderly man with a pot belly, and the two captains of the Razorbacks. One of the captains had brown hair that was styled into a bowl cut and gave an impish smile at both Ben and Zach, which revealed a gap in his teeth, showing that he was missing a tooth. Ben could tell right away that this was the linebacker who Chloe punched out at the bar she went to.

"Gentlemen, please introduce yourselves so we can begin the coin toss." The ref said in a soft tone. Both Ben and Zach proceeded to exchange handshakes with the other two captains. "I will now initiate the coin toss to determine which team will get to choose their position on the field. Please call the coin as I flip it into the air." He instructed.

As he threw the coin in the air, the four athletes had each looked up at it as Zach then shouted out his prediction of what it would land before anyone else could. "Tails!"

The ref caught the coin in his hand and revealed it to both team's captains. "It is tails. Blackwell Bigfoots have the option to be the kicking team or receiving team."

"Tails never fails." Zach said proudly.

"We choose to receive!" Ben spoke.

"Of course you guys do!" One of the opposing captains snickered to his co-captain. Ben glared at him angrily through his helmet.

"Very well. Blackwell Bigfoots will be the receiving team and Sunnydale Razorbacks will be the kicking team."

"Good call Big Ben. Get ready to put those hands to work." Zach stated.

"I always do!" He replied. "Now let's play some football."

"'Bigfootball' you mean." Zach corrected.

* * *

Despite all of the hard work, determination, and commitment that got them this far in the season, things did not look good for the Bigfoots at all. There were only five minutes left of the second quarter in the game and they were falling far behind to their infamous rivals. The Bigfoots had only scored 7 points. The Razorbacks had already scored 28. As Blackwell's star running back was taken down by the Razorbacks' defensive line, Ben could hear his father shouting furiously from the sidelines.

"We should not be losing on our own Goddamn field!"

" _Yeah, he's definitely pissed_." Ben thought as he saw him yelling at the players out on the field and on the sidelines.

In a later play, Zach was now making a pass all the way forward to Ben. Running right to where he knew it would land, but something happened. All of a sudden as he could see the crowd of spectating classmates and friends, he began to think of Kate and could picture her face in his mind. His hands began to shake as he thought about her and the ball was now plummeting down to him, he jumped in the air and reached out both of his trembling hands to catch it. Ben was unsuccessful as the ball had escaped from his grasp and he fell backwards to the ground. Fumble! The sound of the ref's whistle then followed. As Ben got up, he could see his dad calling players on the field over to the sidelines to go over a play with them.

"Ben, what the hell was that?" Coach Ferris questioned him angrily.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I just froze up." Ben tried to explain.

"You can't just do shit like that on the field. Especially not tonight. Get back out there!"

"Yes, Coach!" Ben sighed. He placed his helmet back on his head and ran out onto the field.

As the clock was now racing to end of the second quarter, the ball was once again in Zach's hand. Desperate to score for the team, he and Ben had planned to make a Hail Mary pass, giving Ben a better chance of making a touchdown. Zach had chucked the ball as far as he could and Ben knew that the rest was up to him.

"And it looks like Ben Ferris is going after the Hail Mary thrown by Zach Riggins right now. Can he do it?" Juliet announced from the booth.

As the entire Blackwell fan section had chanted 'Big Ben', it gave Ben the extra motivation to get to that Ball and give the fans what they wanted. The Bigfoots were going to make a comeback. That was the last thing he imagined when all of a sudden, Ben had caught the ball and the next thing he knew he was immediately caught in the middle of a collision between two of the Razorbacks. Both player's had gone for his legs, causing Ben's knee to be crushed in between the large mass of the two players. He couldn't help but let out a scream of agony as he had fell to the ground. The only emotion in his mind right now was complete fear as he realized he was having difficulty getting up.

" _Come on, Ben. You've got to get up_." He thought to himself worriedly. He had gone so far in the season without having a single injury and now it came down to this, when his team needed him the most.

"Hold on folks, it looks like Ferris may be injured." Juliet spoke into the microphone. The entire audience went completely silent as both Coach Ferris and Zach ran over to Ben, who was still laid out on the ground.

"Ben, look at me. Can you move?" His dad asked him anxiously.

"I think so. Feels like I was just hit by a bus." He grabbed onto his dad's shoulder and tried his best to get up, only to feel the sharp pain in his knee and fall back down.

"Coach his knee's busted." Zach observed as he pointed to Ben's leg.

"I'm fine. We've only got another half of the game left. I can still play." Ben insisted.

"Dude, you can't. You've got to get that knee looked at."

"He's right, I'll have Richards sub in for you. Right now you need to get to a hospital.

That wasn't wait Ben wanted to hear from either of the two. He only sighed just before he spoke. "Okay."

In just a few seconds, there were two paramedics that arrived onto the field with a gunnery. They both helped Ben up to place him onto the gunnery, strapping him in and rolling him off to the ambulance that was near the field. As Ben was being rolled off, he couldn't see the bleachers, only the dark starry night sky. He lifted his hand up into the air to let everyone know that he was going to pull through. Both the teams and the spectators on each side exploded with applause to show their sympathy and support towards Ben, but none of that mattered to him. As he was placed inside of the ambulance, both of the paramedics stayed inside with him as one of them shut the doors closed. The ambulance began moving and was now making its route to Arcadia Bay General.

* * *

A couple hours later, Ben was now settled into a hospital room. He sat in the bed of his room dressed in a light blue hospital gown and had a white cast that covered his right leg up to his knee. His casted leg was resting on top of several pillows that a nurse had provided him with. As he sat in the room wondering what to even do, a doctor had entered the room to talk to Ben. He was an older man with grey hair and glasses and was holding a clipboard in his hands, probably ready to give Ben bad news about his injury, no less.

"How are you feeling?" The doctor asked.

"I've been better." Ben answered.

"The x-rays just came in. I've been working here for forty-five years and I can tell that you've got a torn ACL." He said.

"How bad is it though?" Ben asked.

"The way I see it, You'll probably have to wear that cast for about a week and a half. Once it gets removed, you'll have to take good care of that knee and go through a crazy amount of physical therapy." The doctor said.

"Do you think I'll still have time to play again before my season ends." He asked.

"That depends. When does your season end?" He replied.

"The second week of November." Ben answered. "Unless we make it to the state championships."

"Well, I guess you'll be lucky if you can make it back in time for your last two games. And if your team does make it to the championships, then I suppose you should be fine by then. However, I would strongly advise you to reduce your time spent practicing and playing on the field if you want to have a faster recovery." He explained.

"Thanks, Doc." Ben said.

"Any time. You take it easy now and be sure to let the nurses know if you need anything. Have a good night." The doctor said as he left the room.

" _Being out for the next four games of this season was not what I was hoping to hear_." Ben thought. As he heard his phone go off to indicate that he had a new unread message, he grabbed his phone from his side and opened it to see that it was from Zach.

**_Zach:_ **

**_Tonight was a total loss. Sorry about what happened, man. Hope you're alright._ **

Suddenly Ben wished he hadn't read that message. Hearing that his team had lost to their rivals on their home field was the worst thing that could happen to them this season. Ben only hated himself for not being there for his team, for getting hurt, and for not winning tonight's game for Kate like he promised her. Whenever he was upset about something, he would just go outside and run for as long as he could until he tired himself out. But he couldn't run, he couldn't even walk without having to use crutches now. All he really could do right now was just cry out of all of the frustration at the fact that his week came to an end like this. That he had done so many acts of selflessness for one person that he barely knew and this was how life was repaying him. Ben turned his head to look at his window seeing the same starry night, just before he quietly spoke to himself.

"I'm sorry, Kate."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there you have it guys. For a chapter that was over 12,000 words, I sure did throw a lot in this one. I actually enjoyed writing the little diary entry by Kate as we got to see things through her POV in first person and you even got a glimpse of how she's beginning to develop quite a crush on Ben. I actually have plans to do a couple more diary entries written by her in future chapters. Also, even though there was no tornado that destroyed Arcadia Bay in this timeline, I still have plans to include the mystery of Rachel's disappearance as a secondary plot for the story since Kate is also involved in it as well. However, with Max not having her rewind powers in this story and Ben existing in this timeline, things will play out very differently than the original story of LiS. You'll just have to keep reading to find out what happens. If you enjoyed this chapter, be sure to leave kudos and comment to let me know what you think so far.


	10. Visiting Hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters posted on the same day. I know, it's a rare thing for me to do. However, I hate leaving people on clifhangers and wanted to give you guys the continuation of what happened following the night of the game. I also just saw IT in theaters recently and the fact that there were two characters named Beverly Marsh and Ben just motivated me to keep writing even more haha. With that being said, I hope you all enjoy this chapter as it marks the dawn of some Ben and Kate shipping. Enjoy!

The shining sun was enough to wake up Kate as it gleamed through the window into her room. Dressed in her favorite pair of pajamas as usual, she sat up from her bed and stretched her arms out, still feeling a bit worn out. Looking around, she remembered that she was back at Blackwell in her dorm room. Her father had driven her back to school late on Sunday night. Now it was a late Monday morning, which also happened to be Columbus Day, meaning that there were no classes today. Kate took advantage of her day off to sleep in, something she didn't normally do on days where there was no school since she was always the early bird type. Seeing that it was 11:00 AM on her alarm clock though, she got up out of her bed to go to the bathroom to shower and brush her teeth.

After taking a shower, she brushed her teeth at the bathroom sink and she began to think about her parents' idea to have her transfer to another school. It did make her feel anxious and it was even a very quiet car ride back to Blackwell with her father as it was all she thought about. But she couldn't allow herself to think about that, not now. What she needed to do was surround herself with the things she loved to do and most importantly, be around the people who she considered her friends. As she walked back to her room after her shower, she had bumped into someone in the hallway as she looked down at the floor. The person Kate collided with was someone she wasn't expecting to see yet.

"I'm sorry." Kate said sincerely as she wasn't aware of her surroundings. She looked directly at the person to see that it was Victoria, who was holding a bouquet of flowers in her hand.

"Oh my God! Will you watch where you're..." Victoria stopped in the middle of her sentence, only to see who it was that she was addressing. "Kate?"

"Oh, Victoria. I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going and..."

"Oh, come here you." Victoria said as she wrapped both of her long arms around Kate's neck and held on to her tightly. "You have no idea how good it is to see you back here."

"It is good to back." Kate admitted shyly. "How was your weekend in San Francisco?"

"It was really good. Mr. Jefferson is way cooler when you hang out with him outside of class. We definitely got to know each other a lot better." Victoria mentioned. "But after everything I've done to you since last week... since the start of the school year, I wish it was you that got to go instead." She admitted.

"Well, thank you. I really appreciate that you dedicated your prize to me."

"Of course, Kate. You deserved the recognition more than anyone else." Victoria asserted. "I still want to make things up to you though. So I was thinking maybe tomorrow after class, we could grab coffee together and get mani-pedis. It'll all be my treat too." Victoria insisted.

"Victoria, that's so generous of you. I'll need to check my schedule for tomorrow before I can give you a straight answer." Kate said.

"No problem. We can always reschedule if you're busy anyway." She said.

"Who are those flowers for?" Kate questioned as she pointed at the yellow flowers Victoria was holding.

"Oh, these are for Ben." Victoria answered with a smile.

"Oh, I see." Kate said, sounding somewhat sad.

"I was just getting ready to drive over to the hospital to see him."

"The hospital? What happened to him? Is he okay?" Kate asked worriedly.

"You mean you didn't hear? He tore his ACL during the football game on Friday night. I heard he's feeling better but he's going to be on crutches for at least a week or two."

"I hope he's alright." Kate said.

"Believe me, Kate, we all do." Victoria replied.

"Hi, Kate." The two girls heard another voice say from behind them. They both looked to see that it was Max, standing in the hallway outside of her room with her arms folded.

"Oh hi, Max. How are you?" Kate said as she smiled at her.

"Is everything alright out here?" Max asked, hinting at the fact that Victoria was in Kate's presence.

"Uh yes, everything is alright, 'Max Selfie'. It's just two people having a friendly conversation together. No need to act like Kate's personal bodyguard or flip out on me like you did last week Thursday." Victoria commented, annoyed that Max was intervening on her talk with Kate. "I should get going though. Good to see you again, Kate. I actually enjoyed our talk." As Victoria walked down the hall to leave the dorm, Max walked over to reconnect with Kate.

"What was Victoria talking to you about?" Max asked with concern.

"Nothing really. She wanted to take me out for a treat after how horrible she was to me. She's planning for us to go out for coffee and get our nails done tomorrow. I know she's trying to start being nice to me, but I just can't really see myself hanging out with her."

"Neither can I. Next thing you know, she'll try to induct you into her posse with Taylor and Courtney." Max joked.

"It's alright Max. As long as you're still at Blackwell, I'll be spending my days with you. Plus, I think we may need to have two tea dates this week to make up for the one we missed last week." Kate said joyfully.

"You bet." Max replied.

"What did Victoria mean when she said you flipped out on her last week Thursday?" Kate asked.

"I was still pissed at her about what she did to you last week with that whole video and everything. So I confronted her about it at the rally on Thursday night. It was totally wrong of her to do that to you, even when she knows that you have a church group back at home." Max explained.

"Max, I think we all just need to put that behind ourselves now. What Victoria did was wrong, but she seems like she really wants to make up for it. When I came back here late last night, I'm pretty sure that I heard her crying from her room next door." Kate mentioned.

"Really? I guess Ben really did bring her back to reality when he yelled at her last week. I didn't think Victoria was capable of sheding tears." Max commented. "Anyway, ready to get our tea on?"

"Um, Max?" Kate spoke timidly.

"What's wrong, Kate?" Max asked.

"Victoria mentioned that Ben's in the hospital. She said that he got hurt in the middle of his game on Friday."

"Yeah, I heard all about it. I missed the game because I went to see a movie with Warren, but everybody was talking about it the next day and Ben sounds pretty down about it. What's even worse is that Dana went to visit him over the weekend and she said that he's blaming himself for why the team lost."

"Oh no! That doesn't sound good at all." Kate said with concern. "Do you think we could stop by the hospital to visit him before we stop for tea? I think he would really appreciate the company."

"Of course, Kate. Warren has his own car now so he can drive us there."

"Thanks, Max. Just let me get dressed and I'll be ready to go." Kate stated.

Ben began to wake up in his hospital room, still dressed in the same white hospital gown and feeling a slight pain in his knee. He took a deep breath and looked out of the window to see that it was another sunny day in Arcadia Bay as usual. As he turned his head to the right to see the other side of his room, he saw that Chloe was sitting in a chair that was against the wall. She was staring at the floor and had both of her hands together as she twiddled her thumbs. Upon hearing Ben move around, she lifted up her head to see that he was now awake.

"What up, Dude?" Chloe asked him in soft voice.

"Hey. Good to see you." Ben responded, still sounding exhausted.

"Likewise. How you holding up?" She asked.

"I still feel like shit." Ben answered. "I hope someone was able to get the license plate number of whatever the hell hit me Friday night." He joked.

"I gotta admit, you sure did put up a fight in that game. The rest of the team got hella sloppy without you in the second half." She said.

"You still went to the game? After what happened between us at the Two Whales?" Ben asked in bewilderment.

"Of course I did, dude. You became my best friend after Max left me and I thought I would never see her again. And you and I have both been there for each other no matter what." Chloe confessed. "And about what happened the other day at the Two Whales, I just want to say that I'm sorry. For all that shit that I said about you. And Kate. I was being a real asshole and you obviously didn't deserve that. I just really miss Rachel is all." She admitted sadly.

"It's alright, Chloe. I know how much she must have meant to you." Ben expressed. "You know, while I've been sitting in here for the past few days, I had second thoughts about things and I made a decision. I'm gonna help you and Max find out what happened to Rachel."

"You will?" She asked, with a sound of hope in her voice.

"Yeah, I will. Like you said, we've been there for each other and this isn't something you should try to solve alone. If it was me that was missing, you'd probably go through hell and back to find me. I know, I'm kind of at a disadvantage to move freely over here, but I'll do whatever I can to help. Think of it in the way how Batman and Robin have Oracle to help them behind the scenes."

"Right on! Thanks, brother." Chloe said with excitement.

Ben looked down and stared at his casted leg before he continued to speak to Chloe. "I... had another nightmare about him again."

"You did? Shit, are you alright? Do you think it had to do with all the shit that happened last week?" Chloe asked.

"It could have been. But I'm over it now." He answered.

"You sure you don't wanna talk about it with me at least..."

"I'm fine, Chloe. I appreciate that you're looking out for me though." Ben stated. "Could you hand me that cup of water?" He then asked her politely. Chloe then got up to grab the cup that was sitting on a table next to Ben's bed as he couldn't get out of the bed to reach it. She then handed it to him and Ben smiled as he put the brim of the cup to his lips and lifted it up, taking a gulp of the water inside of it.

"Thanks!" Ben said. "Wanna sign my cast?" He asked her as he pointed to a black sharpie that sat on the same table as his cup.

"I'd be insulted if you didn't let me." Chloe replied.

"Well, now's your chance. You better not draw any dicks on that cast though. I do have to wear it in school for a week and a half." Ben teased.

"Ouch, we've known each other for three summers and you still don't fully trust me?" Chloe mocked. She walked over to the end of the hospital bed and leaned over towards Ben's right leg to write her name on the cast. As she looked for a blank space, she saw the name of other students at Blackwell who came to visit him over the weekend and left their signatures. Zach, Juliet, Hayden, Dana, Trevor, Taylor, Courtney, Evan.

"The nurses told me that they didn't know who would be taking you back to Blackwell after they let you out of here today. So I figured, I'd give you a lift once your doctor gives you the 'All Clear' to head home." She mentioned.

"Thanks, Chloe!"

"No problem." She replied. Just as she finished writing her name on the cast, the door of Ben's room had opened, revealing that it was a nurse.

"Ben, someone's here to see you." The nurse said with a smile. As she turned around to leave the room, she revealed that Ben's unexpected visitor was Victoria.

"Benji! Oh my God, are you okay?" Victoria shouted out in surprise to see Ben in his current state. She ran over to him, holding the flowers she had for him in her hand. "I heard about what happened to you while I was in San Francisco over the weekend and I was so worried for you." She expressed dramatically. "Oh hey, Chloe!"

"Sup, Vic?" Chloe acknowledged. She rolled her eyes at Victoria's climactic entrance and couldn't believe how she was groveling before Ben.

"What are you doing here anyway, shouldn't you be in class right now?" Ben asked in confusion.

"It's Columbus Day, silly! No one has classes today." Victoria explained to him. "I got these for you." She lifted up the flowers to show Ben. "They're tulips, which represent hope and cheerful thoughts. I figured you could use them after your traumatic injury and your team's loss on Friday." She carelessly placed the flowers in Ben's cup of water which he had been drinking out of.

"Uh, thanks Victoria. You shouldn't have." Ben said with a slight hint of sarcasm. "How was San Francisco by the way? Was it everything that you expected?"

"It was more than what I expected, Ben. I'm actually kind of jealous that you live in the same city that houses the Zeitgeist Gallery." Victoria exclaimed. "You know, the next time I happen to be in the Golden City again, I'll have to look you up." She added flirtatiously. Can I sign your cast?"

"Knock yourself out." Ben replied.

"Thank you." Victoria said to Chloe as she snatched the sharpie from her hand. She then walked over to Ben's cast to leave her signature. "By the way Ben, the big Halloween Shindig is coming up soon and I heard you still don't have a date for it."

"Is a date really required for something like that?" He asked, sounding somewhat disinterested

"People need a plus one for every kind of event these days, Ben. So, I was thinking that with your cast, you'd make a perfect pirate. And you could probably use a sexy parrot at your side, hint, hint. Anyway, I'd love to stay and chat more with you, but Taylor and Courtney are waiting for me. We're taking advantage of our day off to do some shopping. TTYL, Ben." She added as she made her way to leave the room.

"Wow, it's just like an Indiana Jones movie. The hero always gets the girl. Even if she does happen to be a huge skank." Chloe commented right after Victoria left.

"I take it you two have some history?" Ben asked.

"That's putting it lightly. I'm still not surprised she won that whole 'Everyday Heroes' contest. Knowing her, she probably bribed or blackmailed her way into winning in the first place." Chloe added. "So are you really going to that party with her?"

"Considering that I can only really hobble around instead of dance, I'd say that's a no." Ben answered.

"Good to see you still have your common sense intact." Chloe replied. "You know, after they release you from this place, I say the two of us should hang and have a toke sesh together, like the good old times. I happened to pay back Frank after how much I owed him and used the extra cash I had to buy some medicinal shit off of him. It's gotta be a much better remedy than the shit they're gonna prescribe you."

"Extra cash? Chloe, how did you end up getting the money you needed to pay back Frank in just a week?"

"I have my ways, Ben." Chloe stated nonchalantly, holding back on the truth.

"You are a woman of many mysteries sometimes, Chloe Price." Ben said as he leaned back into his bed. Suddenly, the door to Ben's room opened again, this time revealing three more familiar faces from Blackwell: Max, Warren, and Kate.

"Hey, Ben." Max greeted happily.

"Ben, what's up?" Warren said with excitement.

"Hi, Ben." Kate said with a sheepish smile.

"Does anybody knock these days anymore? You guys are lucky you didn't catch me in the middle of my sponge bath." Ben joked.

"Good to see that you didn't break your funny bone." Warren commented. "I call dibs on signing Ben's cast first." He shouted as he grabbed the sharpie on the table and walked over to Ben's cast.

"How's your leg feeling?" Kate asked as she looked at Ben's cast sadly.

"Better than it felt Friday night, that's for sure. But that's probably because the doctor has me taking some pain killers." Ben answered. "Good news is, they should be letting me out of here later today. Chloe said that she'll drive me home."

"That's right!" Chloe confirmed. "Need more water, Ben?"

"Sure, my throat's bound to get dry again anyway."

"Comin right up! Max, Warren, why don't you guys take a walk with me. Kate, you can keep Ben company while we're gone." Chloe instructed as she was trying to push Max and Warren out of the room.

"Okay." Kate replied as she watched the three of them leave the room and Chloe closed the door behind them. Kate then turned around to face Ben, who gave her a kind smile.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey." Kate replied.

"You can take a seat, you know." Ben insisted as he observed how she was hovering over his bed.

"Oh, sorry." She said as she began to blush. She then walked over to one of the chairs that sat against a wall in the room, brought it over to Ben's bed, and took a seat.

"Sorry I couldn't keep my promise." Ben stated.

"About what?" Kate asked.

"About how we would win the game for you. It's my fault I got hurt that cost us winning." He admitted.

"Ben, you can't blame yourself for what happened. Your injury was something that you couldn't foresee, so you shouldn't beat yourself up about it. All you can do right now, is heal and come back stronger ready to play again." Kate said, consoling Ben.

"I guess you're right. Thanks for the wise words." Ben replied. "So how was your weekend?"

"It was alright. My sisters and I watched a couple movies together and my whole family and I went to church on Sunday." Kate shared.

"Sounds like you had a great time. I'm sure your parents and sisters were happy to see you."

"Most of them were." Kate said under her breath as she fiddled around with the cross on her necklace.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's nothing really. I shouldn't have said that."

"Kate, you can talk to me. I won't twist your arm to tell me what's wrong, but I want you to know that I'm here to listen."

"Thank you, Ben." Kate said as she smiled at his caring words. She then felt comfortable to tell him what was on her mind.

"This weekend, my parents had a talk with me about everything that happened. With the video and me being on the roof. My parents feel like sending me to Blackwell was a bad idea in the first place." Kate admitted. "What's even worse is that my whole church made me stand in front of them and they all put their hands on me to pray my sins away. It was so embarrassing."

"Ouch. Well, I don't know about you, but I'd have to disagree with your parents on that. You've met people at Blackwell that care about you. Like Max, like Warren... like me. Even people like Victoria are trying their hardest to treat you better." Ben stated.

"I know. I saw Victoria today and she offered to treat me out for coffee and a free trip to the nail salon with her." Kate mentioned.

"She really agreed to do that for you? Wow, I guess Bob Dylan was right about how the times are changing." He joked.

"What's that mean?" Kate asked, sounding perplexed.

"It's an old song that my mom used to listen to. I have a copy of it on vinyl for my record player if you ever want to hear it." Ben mentioned. "Sorry if I'm getting off topic. What else did your parents say to you?"

"They're both considering to have me switch schools at the end of this term and send me to an all-girls Christian Art School." Kate said worriedly. "I feel so scared just thinking about it, Ben." She cried out.

"Shit. I'm sorry, Kate. I hope there's something that can change their minds."

"I'm glad to hear that you're worried for me, Ben. Right now, I'm just praying that God can change their minds."

"At least you're doing your best to stay optimistic." Ben said. "I know your parents didn't get to meet me like they wanted to, but what are they like anyway?"

"Well, my dad is a social worker who works with children and their families. He's also the Preacher at our church who teaches the service on Sundays. And my mom works as an accountant for one of the best insurance companies in Hillsboro. She says that it can be hard work and she has to deal with nasty clients, but it pays well."

"It sounds like they've got quite the day jobs if you ask me."

"I suppose they do. But now it's my turn to ask you." Kate said with a smile. "What were your parents like? And by that, I mean before they divorced."

"Believe it or not, my parents met each other at Blackwell. But they weren't students at the time like you or me. They were both teachers who worked there."

"Oh, really? That's so cute. So how exactly did they meet each other?"

"Well, my mom was the music teacher at Blackwell and my dad was the P.E. teacher and assistant football coach when he first started working there. They both met each other during a faculty meeting and decided to talk to each other afterwards. Later on, they started dating outside of school and a couple years later they eventually got married to each other."

"That's amazing. They must have been even more happy together once you came into their lives."

"They were. I can still remember the days of us going to the park together or eating breakfast at the Two Whales. They got the divorce when I was only five. After that, the two of them acted like completely different people towards each other."

"That's awful. What exactly happened between them?"

"Their differences basically got in the way. When my Dad got promoted to head Coach of the Bigfoots, he became more focused on making the team better and training his athletes relentlessly to become state champions. He was always disconnected from the life he once enjoyed as a father and a husband. Meanwhile, my mom was ready to leave Arcadia Bay since she spent her entire life here. She wanted the three of us to be able to experience something different together. But my dear old dad just couldn't leave his Bigfoots behind. He played for that team when he was a student at Blackwell himself, so his loyalty to them was in his blood. So, my parents decided that things weren't going to work out anymore between them and they came to the conclusion that a divorce would be best for them and for my future. The end!" Ben explained as he didn't feel proud to tell Kate that story.

"I'm so sorry, Ben. It sounded like they really loved each other so much before they separated."

"You don't have to be sorry for me, Kate. It's like I told Max last week, it's their fault they decided to leave each other. When couples face a conflict, their supposed to talk things out and come to a solution. And a divorce isn't one of them. It's like people forget the meaning of the saying 'til death do us part.'" Ben said sounding frustrated.

"Did either of them get to visit you here over the weekend?" Kate asked.

"No." Ben answered. "My mom had already left for a musical arts conference in Colorado on Friday, and she didn't have enough time to buy a ticket to fly to Arcadia Bay and see me. And my Dad is probably too busy trying to find a replacement for me until I fully recover and get back on the field."

"Oh." Kate simply replied. She felt bad that his own parents didn't even visit him while he was in the hospital. This only made her want to stay with him longer, but she didn't really know what to say to continue their conversation. While Kate did have a small number of friends at Blackwell, she did know how to have a friendly chat with them. But she felt that it was going to be difficult to maintain a discussion with a boy, especially one who she she felt "different" about, compared to all of the others at her school. Already feeling the sense of awkward silence, Kate began to sit up straight in the chair again and placed both of her hands on her lap. As Ben took note of this, he couldn't help but look at both of her hands and acknowledged several rings which she wore on the fingers of her right hand.

"That's quite the bling that you're rocking." Ben remarked about her rings.

"Oh these?" Kate questioned as she looked at her rings and blushed. "I wear them all the time, even though I don't really wear a lot of jewelry like most girls."

"So what's each one for?" He asked with interest.

"Not much really. I got these two from when my family and I went to Disneyland. This one here is a sister ring and it has me and my sisters' names engraved on it." Kate explained as she pointed to each ring on her finger. "And this one here is... my purity ring." She added nervously, pointing to a ring that was worn on her ring finger, which had a blue gem encrusted on it.

"What's that?" Ben asked in interest.

"It's a special ring that I wear since I took an oath at my church to stay abstinent until marriage." Kate explained. "But most people at Blackwell just laugh at me when I tell them that."

"Not me." Ben replied.

"Wait, what?" She asked in shock.

"Kate, I think it's awesome that you strongly believe in something like that and keep it so close to you. And people should learn to respect your own beliefs, regardless if they're different from their own." Ben confessed.

"Ben, I never knew that you felt that way." Kate said in awe.

"Of course I do. To be honest, I think it's cool to see that you're waiting to lose your virginity until you meet that special someone in your life. That's something that I'll never be able to do because I was an idiot and decided to get laid when I first had the chance."

"We all make our mistakes, Ben."

"Only I keep making them." Ben replied. "Word gets around fast at Blackwell and you always end up finding out who hooked up with who. And considering the people that live on your floor, I'm sure you've probably heard some of them brag about how they ended up getting lucky with 'Mr. Bigfoot' himself. Victoria, Taylor, Courtney, pretty much any girl I've ended up meeting at a Vortex Club party."

"Why do you continue to go through with it if you sound so regretful about it?"

Ben sighed before answering Kate's question, "Maybe it's just cause I'm gullible. I always think that I'm going to end up meeting 'the one' whenever I'm with the girl who happens to be in the same bed with me. Turns out that they really just see me more as a sex object than a person and can't wait to tell all of their girlfriends about how the captain of the Football team went to town on them. I guess I'm just a hopeless romantic is all." He said as he looked up at the ceiling of his room.

"Ben don't talk about yourself like that, please." Kate urged him. "I'm sure that the reason why there are so many girls who would want to... uh, have... intercourse with you is because of your traits. You're kind, caring, athletic, smart, funny, and handsome. That's what makes them so attracted to you in the first place. Sometimes people are just worried about committing to a relationship and think that they aren't ready to settle down. I hope that one day, you do find that girl who happens to be 'the one'.

"Thanks, Kate. I hope you do too. As in find the right guy I mean." Ben said as he had a bashful look on his face.

"It's okay, I knew what you meant." Kate said as she laughed at how Ben was trying to correct himself. As the two had still conversed with each other, the door to Ben's room opened again as Chloe, Max, and Warren returned, with Chloe holding a cup of water in her hand for Ben.

"Hmm, your water, Master Benjamin." Chloe said in her best impersonation of a posh butler.

"Hmm, why thank you, Miss Price." Ben replied in his best try at a high class gentleman's voice as he stuck his nose in the air.

"Hey, Kate. Sorry to rush you, but are you ready to go for our tea date soon?" Max asked shyly, hoping that she didn't interrupt both Kate and Ben.

"You're not rushing at all, Max. Ben and I were just finishing up our great conversation we were having while you three were gone."

"Oh, okay. Well, Warren and I will just be waiting outside of the room when you're ready."

"Take your time, Kate." Warren insisted as the two friends could tell she looked happy being in the room talking with Ben.

"Don't worry, I'll be quick." Kate replied to reassure Max and Warren. "I don't want to keep them waiting, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow when you come back to Blackwell?"

"You got it!" Ben responded.

"Oh, great! Take care Ben. I can't wait for you to come back. I hope you feel better soon." Kate replied happily. Before she left, she leaned towards Ben and gave him a light kiss on his cheek and then walked towards the door to leave his room.

Right after she left the hospital room to rejoin Max and Warren, Ben placed his left hand on his face to feel the exact area that Kate had pressed her soft lips against. He then looked at Chloe to make sure he wasn't the only one who witnessed what had just happened. She was sitting in the same spot she was found in when Ben woke up, but this time, she only had a shocked look on her face. Her eyes widened and her mouth wide open in reaction to what she just saw Kate do before she left.

Ben simply smiled and laid back in his hospital bed. He stretched out both of his arms and placed them behind his head before saying to Chloe, "Just like an Indiana Jones movie, huh?"

"Don't let it get to your head, 'Ferris Bueller'." Chloe said as she rolled her eyes at Ben's gesture. The two friends could only just laugh with each other afterwards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all folks (For now)! I know this chapter was a bit shorter than the last, but I felt that the setting and the mood was a nice transition following Ben's injury and Kate's newest dilemma. Be sure to leave kudos and a comment if you're new to this fic. I can't wait to share the next chapter of this wild ride of a story with all of you soon.


	11. The Serpent in the Garden

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I know it's been a long time since I've updated this fic, but AO3 has mostly been my secondary form of sharing fics, with FF being number one. Over the past few months I've updated about five more chapters over on my FF, and since this fic has gained some popularity over there, I felt motivated to share them with you guys and keep this fic going no matter what, I hope you all enjoy.

**Kate Dairy Entry, October 15 th 2013:**

It feels so great to finally be back at Blackwell. There’s kind of been a lot on my mind again lately, so I decided to write it all down. I even got up earlier than usual just to do so too. I’m not even sure where to start, but I’m sure everything will come to me as I’m writing.

A lot of people seemed so happy to see me again yesterday. Max and I went on our weekly tea date together and Warren even joined us as well. Dana and Juliet both gave me a huge hug when they saw me in the hallway. And Stella, Alyssa, and I even had a movie night together last night. Even Victoria was trying to be nice to me too. I still haven’t given her an answer yet if I can met up with her after class today. The Meals on Wheels Club meets after school today and tonight’s also Bible Study, not to mention that I still have some more homework to make up from last week.

I just feel like everything in my life is really changing for better and I think that it all started when Ben stepped into my life. I went to see him at the hospital yesterday when I found out he got injured in his game on Friday. He apparently has a torn ACL. I’m not sure what that means, but he said he won’t be able to play football for a while. He did sound depressed when I first talked with him because of his injury and how the team lost their biggest game of the season. He started to feel better after I told him that it wasn’t his fault. Then we changed the subject and I ended up telling him about how my parents are thinking about having me switch schools. Ben was actually the first person that I told this too and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I feel like he can keep things a secret since he doesn’t seem like the type to gossip about other people.

I did get to learn about what his parents were like before they divorced. They sounded like really nice people from what he told me. I still can’t believe they left each other when he was only five. That’s just too young to experience something like that. It seems like he doesn’t really like to talk about his childhood after his parents divorced either. I suppose I’ll just have to respect that since it isn’t my business. I was surprised that he respected my views on abstinence, even when he admitted to me how many times he had had sex here at Blackwell. I do feel kind of bad for him though. He just really wants to find someone special in his life, but it seems like most of the girls here just take advantage of him since he’s very popular and attractive. All this time, I thought that he had a girlfriend. I’m sure that there’s a very special girl somewhere out there who’s waiting to meet Ben and be happy with him. Now if only Max would just start dating Warren already. She knows that he likes her.

As crazy as this sounds, I feel like asking Ben to have tea with Max and I next time. We should probably invite Warren again too so Ben doesn’t feel so awkward by me and Max’s girl talk. With his injury and all, he might get so bored not being able to play the sport that he loves so much, so what better than to include him in a group of his other friends. I’m not sure why, but talking with Ben always makes me feel so happy for some reason. He even gave me an idea for a new drawing. I still have plenty of time before my first class, so I should probably start working on it.

* * *

 As Kate sat in her dorm room and finished her entry, she placed her diary into one of the drawers of her desk. She then took out a piece of blank paper from a different drawer as well as a box of crayons. Kate went to work as she let the ideas that flowed through her mind carry over the paper. She was deeply focused on her drawing and made very precise maneuvers with the crayons she used, almost like a surgeon working on an operating table with their tools. As time passed, she had finished the drawing and happily gazed at it. The formerly blank sheet of paper now consisted of the sketch of a football field with its green surface, white lines that measured every ten yards, a field goal, and a scoreboard. Standing on the field was a drawing of a little smiling cartoon football player, with light brown skin who wore a red football jersey with white bottoms. This was obviously supposed to be Ben. Right above the field and the football player, was an angel floating in the sky, dressed in a white gown and with a golden halo above its head. The angel also had a smile on its face and had shining blonde hair worn into a bun, similar to the style of Kate. She felt like drawing two characters that closely represented her and Ben since her Art class had learned about caricatures the other week. The angel was throwing a football down to the football player, who looked eager to catch it. Above the drawing was a message in all capital letters which read: **_GET WELL SOON!_**

Underneath those words was a biblical scripture, which Kate had in her head and felt like writing down. She felt that it seemed appropriate and would help lift up Ben’s spirits. **_For the_ Lord _protects the bones of the righteous; not one of them is broken! –Psalm 34:20_**

Kate had admired her newest piece of art that she was so proud of spending the last half an hour on. Though, she felt that something was still missing. She wanted to put Ben’s number on the jersey of the little football player that she drew. She went on her phone and opened up the Facebook app to go on his profile and see if there were any pictures of him wearing his jersey. She knew that instead of Facebook stalking Ben, she could have just texted him and asked for what his player number was. But she wanted this drawing for him to be a surprise. Tapping on the search bar with her finger, she began to type his name until it popped up underneath her search results.

_Ben Ferris,_ which was what the first name read under her search results. She then tapped the name, which brought her to Ben’s profile. She saw his cover photo of the school’s football field along with his profile picture of him standing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge with his mother. She could easily tell that the women standing next to Ben was related to him, as the two had shared some similar facial features. Kate thought that she looked so pretty and was very happy with Ben in the picture. Thinking about what Ben said yesterday that his mom wasn’t able to see him over the weekend since she was in Colorado, Kate felt that his mother probably missed him even more. Selecting the section that would show all of Ben’s photos, she saw so many different pictures of him that illustrated the life he lived. There were some that showed him with all of his Vortex Club friends at some of their parties and Ben either looked really happy or completely intoxicated in them. There was even one picture of him and Nathan standing together and flexing. The picture included a caption which read:

**_Ladies (and Gentlemen), introducing your newest Senior Class President and Vice-President. Yes, they’re both single. #EntertheVortexClub #BlackwellBros_ **

Looking at that photo, Kate could tell that Ben and Nathan were both good friends when the school year started. Now, it sounded like they worn sworn enemies from what Ben had told her. And it was all because Ben decided to take Kate’s side and tell Principal Wells that Nathan drugged her at the Vortex Club’s previous party. She still couldn’t think of anyone else at this entire school who would throw their best friend under the bus to help someone they barely knew. That’s what made Ben such an interesting person to her. As Kate had scrolled down further, she saw other pictures that showed Ben goofing around at his uncle’s carpentry company he worked at over the summer. One picture showed him at his eighteenth birthday, proudly holding up an empty keg and kissing it. There were even a few pictures that showed him at his high school prom with his date and the rest of his friends, which were possibly taken from his old school in San Francisco. Finally, Kate found a couple of pictures of Ben at the previous football games. She saw a good one that showed him leaping in the air to catch the ball, which exposed the number on the front of his jersey, number 17. Despite how well the photo was shot, it was actually taken on Max’s camera. Kate noticed this when she saw the comments on the photo, which also had over one hundred likes.

**_Ben Ferris- It’s always a great day to be a Bigfoot. First game of the season was a sweet victory here at Blackwell. Photo cred goes to Maxine Caulfield with her cool camera and her boss photography skills._ **

**_Max Caulfield- It’s “Max”, Ben. Never Maxine haha. Congrats on the win!_ **

**_Nathan Prescott- The Football Hero that Blackwell deserves._ **

**_Dana Ward- I knew that you would be the best new addition to the team. Great work Ben!!_ **

**_Mike Nolan- Good to see you’re still killin it on the field man. You better come back to Frisco and visit soon._ **

**_Amanda Miller- A well-deserved win for your first game. So glad that you’re having a great time at Blackwell._ **

After Kate got the information that she needed, she closed out of her Facebook and sketched the number 17 onto the drawing of the player as her finishing touch. She then placed the drawing into a folder and grabbed the rest of her books which she needed for class.

‘ _I really hope he likes it_.’ Kate thought to herself as she left her room.

* * *

 As Ben entered the main building at Blackwell, He was met by the gaze of so many faces that saw him walking through the halls on his crutches. Everyone practically looked like they had never seen someone with an injury like Ben’s before. He thought nothing of it as it was something that only came with playing the sport of football itself. Heading over to his locker, he opened it up to grab his books which he needed for his first few classes of the day. He dropped them into his backpack and placed it on his back, proceeding to walk down the hall. From down the hall, Ben saw Kate who seemed to be smiling and didn’t have her head down facing the floor, like last week. Seeing that she looked happy to be back at Blackwell, he decided to go over and talk to her. However, he was stopped in his tracks to see his teammate Logan and another student, most likely Logan’s sidekick, who had Daniel DaCosta, pinned against the lockers to be harassed by the blockheaded athlete and his friend.

“Yo Daniel, you remember what day it is?” Logan asked tauntingly.

“It’s Tuesday. Why?” Daniel questioned.

“No bro, it’s payday.” Logan replied.

“Yeah, payday bro.” Logan’s accomplice repeated.

“And I know you didn't forget that you owe us cash.” Logan said.

“Cash for what?” Daniel asked. He tried his best to pretend like he didn’t know what Logan was talking about.

“To make sure that nobody kicks your ass.” He answered.

“Yeah, your ass.” His buddy said.

“Logan, seriously, leave me alone.” Daniel pleaded.

“What did you say to me? You're not the boss of me, bro.” He said angrily.

“Yeah, you’re not the boss, bro.”

“No, I'm, I'm..., I'm just trying to go to class.” Daniel explained to the two antagonizes fearfully.

The current situation that was going on between the three students had been interrupted by the sound of a loud clanging noise that occurred right near them. Each of them looked to see that Ben had hit one of his crutches against the lockers to get the attention of Logan and his crony.

“What’s up guys?” Ben intervened.

“Ferris, you’re back. I knew one hit from the last game wasn’t gonna stop you. Anyway, we’re just making sure that Daniel over here pays his dues for protection.”

“He’s not gonna need protection once you leave him alone.” Ben replied.

“Huh, what are you trying to say?” Logan asked.

“Logan, can you try not to be an idiot for at least two minutes? I’m saying that you should stop picking on Daniel. For good!” He replied.

“Why should I? You might be my captain, but you can only tell me what to do when I’m on the field.” He said in his defense.

“That’s true.” Ben agreed. “But if I’m not mistaken, it sounded like you and your weasel friend over here were forcing Daniel to pay you so he won’t get the shit kicked out of him by anyone. But for the past few weeks, I’ve noticed that you’re really the only who one who ever bullies him in the halls and even in our dorm.”

“Yeah, so?” Logan said bluntly.

“So, the fact that you’re trying to coerce him to pay you with his own cash is more than just bullying. It’s called ‘extortion’, which you probably don’t even know how to spell anyway.” Ben said mockingly.

Logan was angered by Ben’s insult and wasn’t going to stand for it. He walked towards Ben with a pissed off look on his face and yelled right at him. “What the fuck did you just...”

“Let me dumb things down for you so you can understand. The point is that what you’re doing is considered a criminal offense, Logan.” Ben interrupted. “And sense you did just turn eighteen, you could probably end up in some serious trouble with the police and possibly kiss your starting spot on the football team goodbye if a higher up found what you were doing.”

“Are saying you’re gonna snitch on me?” He asked, laughing in Ben’s face.

“No, I’m saying that you should leave Daniel alone once and for all. Or else you’re gonna deal with me.” Ben replied with intimidation in his voice.

“Ha, Ferris, I don’t think you remember who it was that cleaned your clock last week.” He brought up, referring to their fight from last week.

“Oh, I remember, Logan. But what you should remember is what my old man said to us in the beginning of the season. A Ferris never makes the same mistake twice. So if you think you can take another shot at me, go right ahead. We can end this right here, right now.” Ben said seriously. He dropped both of his crutches to the floor and clenched his fists, ready to square up against Logan if he had to.

“Man, Nate was right. You are crazy! I’m not fighting you again. I got in trouble with the Principal and Coach Ferris after knocking your ass out last time.” Logan recounted. “Let’s get of here.” He urged his friend. The two then walked away from Ben and Daniel and went to go on about their day.

“Oh, and Logan.” Ben called out to Logan, who turned around at the mention of his name. “I know what you did to Dana. And if you ever hurt her like that again, I’ll come after you myself.” He warned. Logan said nothing in response and kept on walking.

Ben then turned his attention to Daniel, who was still standing against the lockers. “You okay, Daniel?” He asked.

“Yes, I am now. Why did you help me though? I thought Logan was your friend.” Daniel replied as he knelt down to help Ben pick up his crutches that he dropped.

“He is, but that doesn’t change the fact that what he was doing to you was wrong. I helped you because I’m a guy who loves Blackwell and hates bullies.” He said.

“Thanks, Ben. I thought that things would change after what happened to Kate and with your speech that you gave last week.”

“Me too. Unfortunately, not everyone wants to be a team player in the Blackwell community.” Ben expressed. “Look, I don’t mean to blow you off, but I’ve gotta go catch up with someone before class starts.” He said, remembering that he wanted to go see Kate in the hallway. He then got a hold of both of his crutches and began to head down the hall.

“Wait, Ben!” Daniel yelled to get his attention.

“What’s up, bud?” He replied.

“I was wondering if I could possibly sketch you for my next project. I’m focusing on sports and I thought that you would be a perfect choice for it.”

“Hell yeah, dude!” Ben answered excitedly. “I’ve seen your drawings on Facebook and their pretty badass. You’ve got a true talent for that kind of stuff. Maybe this sketch might convince me to start my own modeling portfolio like I always dreamed of.”

“Thanks, Ben! Just let me know whenever you’re available to meet with up with me.”

“Sure thing. Later Daniel!” Ben replied as he proceeded to go down the hallway once again.

* * *

 

Kate had walked over to her locker. She had only good thoughts, feeling confident that this was going to be the start of a new and better week. And even if she did have at least one bad day this week, she still had a number of friends she could rely on to make her feel happy. She felt excited to see Ben today and witness his reaction to the drawing that she made for him. There were so many people that even greeted her this morning on her walk to the main building and throughout the hallway. As she turned the combination for her locker, she was met with an unexpected surprise as she opened the door.

Before she could fully open the locker door, a sea of white and yellow flowers had fallen out of her locker. Kate was completely startled yet amazed at the same time to what had just happened. Since these were flowers, it clearly wasn’t a practical joke someone was playing on her. It had to be a kind gesture that someone was making. Maybe it was a thoughtful gift to welcome her back. As she stared at the flowers that were on the floor as well as the ones that remained in her locker, she still questioned what exactly they were doing in there in the first place. Her question was then answered as she heard the voice of someone approaching her from behind.

“They’re daffodils. Very special flowers for a very special girl.” said Nathan, who was approaching Kate. “They’re said to symbolize rebirth and new beginnings. And I think that speaks for both of us.”

“What are you doing here, Nathan? I thought you were suspended.” Kate asked as she avoided making eye contact with Nathan.

“I was suspended. But today’s my first day back. And so is yours, if I’m not mistaken.” Nathan then picked up one of the flowers from the floor and placed it into Kate’s hair. She began to blush as he had touched her.

“So what do you want from me? We aren’t even friends anyway.” Kate addressed, trying to blow him off.

“Oh, but you shouldn’t be so quick to judge, Katie. After all, I’ve been told that you of all people believe in giving others second chances with your religion and all.” He said.

“So is that what you want? Is that why you decided to stuff my locker with hundreds of flowers? You just wanted me to forgive you?” Kate questioned impatiently.

“Actually, I was hoping for more than just that.” He said persuasively.

“Which is what?” Kate questioned worriedly.

“Well, starting with number one, I’d like to say that I’m sorry. For what happened to you at the last Vortex party you attended. I was in charge of it, therefore, it was my responsibility that you ended up being drugged.” Nathan confessed.

“That’s because you were the one who drugged me.” She said boldly.

“Oh come on, Kate. Do you really believe what Ben Ferris said?” Nathan said condescendingly.

“Well, yes, a lot of people do. He helped me, unlike you.” Kate argued. She reached into her hair to take out the flower, throwing it on the floor.

“Yeah, but are sure it wasn’t him that put something in your drink that night?” He stated, trying to give her some kind of hint.

“What are you talking about?” She asked.

“Oh, Kate, you’re just so innocent sometimes. You probably have no idea about Ben’s body count. The guy’s a walking sex machine who’s gotten with any girl within his proximity. He probably figured someone like you would make an easy target.”

“Ben would never do anything like that.” Kate protested. She thought back to their conversation yesterday and how Ben respected her for her choice to stay abstinent until marriage.  

“Well call me a liar, but I’ve known Ben since the beginning of the school year. How long have you known him?” Nathan retorted. “Anyway, the second thing I wanted to bring up was something a bit more uplifting.”

“What could you possibly know about uplifting, Nathan?” Kate asked as she rolled her eyes at him.

“Lots of things, really.” Nathan replied. “Like the fact that Homecoming is in less than a month. And I’m pretty sure that someone like you doesn’t even have a date.”

“So?” Kate replied.

“So, I’d like to have the honor of taking you to Homecoming.” Nathan answered.

“But why me? Of all of the girls here that you could choose to go with, why would you choose me?”

“To be honest, it’s because I like you.” Nathan confessed.

“What? You barely even know me.” She said in shock.

“I mean it, Kate. Ever since what happened to you last week, I feel so responsible for what happened. Sometimes I think that if I had tried to help you sooner you wouldn’t even have ended up on a viral video.”

“I appreciate your sentiment, Nathan, but I’m not really sure about this.” She admitted.

“Think about it, Kate. If you go with me you have the best chance of being crowned Homecoming Queen. You can finally prove to all of these fakers here at Blackwell that you really are someone.” Nathan insisted. “And to prove that I’m not pulling your leg here, I even made a reservation for the two of us at a five star Italian restaurant that my family owns. They just opened up in Arcadia Bay this weekend.”

Kate was thinking about everything that Nathan was telling her. Did he really mean everything he was telling her? About his true intentions that night at the party? About the intentions of Ben? About how he really felt about her? Part of her felt that this may have been Nathan’s way to have a fresh new start on his life at Blackwell. Another part of her felt like it was all a web of temptation that would lead her into a devastating fate.

Kate had made her decision and spoke, “I’m sorry, Nathan, but I’m just not interested.”

Nathan was appalled by how Kate’s first word of her sentence wasn’t “yes”. He then spoke up to address her once more. “That’s it? You’re just going to make your decision like that? Are sure I can’t...”

“Yes I’m sure.” Kate answered quickly. “I forgive you and I appreciate that you want to be a better person to me, but it’s not you at all. Besides, I never cared for dances anyway. I do hope that you find someone else to go with.”

“Oh, so am I not good enough for you then? Do enlighten me on how you think you can possibly do better.” Nathan spat out furiously.

Kate thought quickly about how to respond to this, even if she did have to tell a lie. She was only nervous as she had never seen Nathan upset like this before. “It’s not that at all, Nathan. It’s just that I... I’ve met someone. And it’s complicated between us.” Nathan only snickered in response to Kate’s explanation.

“Aw, you mean your own Everyday Hero ‘King Benjamin’? That’s just precious.” Nathan mocked. Kate tried her best to ignore Nathan and began to walk away from him. “Do you really think he wants anything to do with someone like you? Your whole ‘sex until marriage’ thing is probably a huge turn-off for him anyway.”

“He’s still more of a gentleman than you’ll ever be.” Kate snapped back at him as she turned around.

“What did you just say to me?” Nathan questioned as he stormed after Kate and had a tight grip on her arm.

“Nathan, let go of me.” Kate demanded. Nathan’s grip had suddenly loosened when he heard another voice calling from behind him and Kate.

“Good morning, Kate.” Ben spoke loudly from down the hall, making his presence known to Nathan. “Is everything alright?” He then asked as he walked over to the two of them.

“Oh, hi Ben. It’s good to see you again.” Kate replied sounding less distressed. “I was just about to head to my first class right now. Would you like to walk there with me?” She asked as she smiled and winked at Ben with her right eye. She was giving him a hint that she was in trouble.

“I’d love to.” Ben answered. “I’m sure Nathan has somewhere else to be anyway.”

“Why don’t you go hobble around somewhere else, Ferris? Kate and I were talking.” Nathan hissed at Ben while commenting about his injury.

“That’s not what it looked like when I showed up.” He replied

“Well maybe you just caught us a bad time. I’m trying to be a better person now that I’m back, so why don’t you stop pretending like you run this school. You’re not even Class President anymore, so I say you better remember your place like when I was still here.” He shouted at Ben.

“Oh, of course Mr. Prescott. My most sincere apologies.” Ben said sarcastically. “You know something, Nate, I heard that there’s a new girl here who’s starting her first day today as an exchange student. Try your best not to roofie her when you first see her.” Ben remarked. Angered by his comment, Nathan kicked one of Ben’s crutches as hard as he could, causing Ben to lose his balance and fall to the floor.

“What was that, Ferris? I couldn’t hear you over the sound of you falling flat on your pretty-boy face.” Nathan mocked.

“Ben! Are you alright?” Kate screamed in horror as she knelt down to help Ben up. “What is your problem?” She barked at Nathan.

“Relax, Kate. Ben and I are just roughhousing is all. Like bros.” Nathan said casually as he walked over to Ben’s left side. “Right, bro?” He shouted, kicking Ben right in his stomach while he was still on the ground, causing him to roll over on his back. Ben let out a grunt of pain in reaction.

“What’s the matter, Benny? All of a sudden there’s no more wisecracks coming from you right now?” Nathan asked as he stomped on Ben’s chest.

“Nathan, stop it.” Kate pleaded as she approached Nathan and tried pushing him away. Nathan reacted by shoving Kate out of his way as she collided into the lockers.

“Don’t ever tell me what to do you little Bible Basher.” Nathan yelled at her. He then turned his focus back to Ben who was collecting his breath from the last hit he took and trying to get up. “Looks like you’re not so tough when you only have one leg to stand on.” Nathan remarked. He then picked up one of Ben’s crutches and lifted it high in the air, ready to strike Ben over his head with it.

As Ben watched Nathan pick up the crutch, he noticed that he didn’t swing it at all. That was when he had looked up to see something he wasn’t even expecting. Nathan was completely frozen as Ben saw that Michelle, the drummer of the band, Totem Pole, was standing behind him and holding a drawn switchblade to his throat.

“Drop it, rich boy.” Michelle ordered. Nathan had dropped the crutch onto the floor in compliance. “Now get the fuck out of here.” She demanded.

“You’re all gonna regret this.” Nathan warned as he began to slowly walk away. The sound of the bell had followed right after.

“Alright everyone, you heard the bell. That means break it up and get to class.” David Madsen urged to the large circle of students as he just arrived and missed the entire incident that occurred in the halls. As Kate helped Ben to his feet, they both saw Steve and Michelle approach them.

“I wish we showed up sooner to help you before you took a beating from Prescott. Never liked that guy anyway. You alright, Ben?” Steve asked.

“Trust me, I’ve taken harder hits on the field. Nathan’s a wimp compared to what I normally go up against. Thanks for stepping in Michelle.” Ben said.

“Don’t mention it, dude. Totem Pole’s got your back.” She replied. “Hey, Kate.”

“Oh, hi, Michelle.” Kate said.

“It’s good to see you again. Our whole Art class missed you.” She admitted.

“I’m glad that you were all thinking of me.” Kate said.

“Of course. It’s good to see you smiling again. See you later.” She told Kate.

“Stay out of trouble you two.” Steve said as he and Michelle walked away.

Kate grabbed Ben’s other crutch from the floor and gave it to him. “Thanks.” Ben said as he took the other crutch and was ready to go.

“You’re welcome.” Kate replied happily. “Ben, are you okay? It looked like Nathan hit you pretty hard.”

“I’m fine, Kate. You don’t have to worry about it.” Ben answered.

“Are you sure? You only just left the hospital yesterday and...”

“I said I’m fine.” He repeated. “I’d still like to walk you to class if that’s okay with you.” He said more politely.

“I would like that, actually. We’re both going to be late, but I could still use the company.” She mentioned smiling at Ben. The two then continued to walk down the hall together, not even worrying what either of their teachers would say to them for being late to class.

* * *

 

As classes had ended later that day, Ben was now collecting a good amount of hours for his independent study with Mr. Jefferson. Since he was injured, he was still expected to show up to practice as usual. However, he would be on the sidelines doing some assistant coaching and providing feedback for some of the players. Ben wasn’t needed for today’s practice since the entire team would be spending their practice running laps as their punishment for losing their last game. Coach Ferris’ rule about this punishment was that the entire team would run a lap for each point the other team scored. Their final score against the Razorbacks was 7-35. With Ben not needed for practice he decided to get an extra hour in for his independent study, working with the teacher.

“And there you have it, Ben. That’s how the concept of cinema can be seen as its own language.” Mr. Jefferson explained to Ben.

“Wow, I actually never really thought of it like that.” Ben replied in amazement. “It’s pretty cool that someone like you has had experience in cinematography, Mr. Jefferson.”

“I’m glad someone else thinks so. You might just be the first person to take advantage of my experience to take on an independent study.” He said.

“Well yeah, I’ve kind of developed a fascination for it over the summer. The school’s Drama and film studies courses here are what kind of drew me to Blackwell.” He mentioned.

“That’s great to hear. Any plans for you after you finish this year at Blackwell?”

“I’m still looking for at a few colleges to apply to. At this point, it all depends if they have a really good Drama or Theatre program to enroll in.”

“Interesting. I always figured someone like you to go to a school with a heavy football culture. University of Oregon doesn’t seem appealing to you at all?”

“It’s kinda hard to say, to be honest. I’ve been playing football for ten years of my life. It’s hard for me to consider letting go of it for it good. But at the same time, I really want to explore other talents I may have. Like acting, writing, or even filmmaking.”

“That’s very ambitious, Ben. I think you’d be quite the artist in the world of film and theatre with that kind of mindset.” Mr. Jefferson stated.

“Thanks Mr. Jefferson. I should probably get going now I’ve got some homework to start working on.”

“In that case, I keep you any longer.” He said. “Do you need a ride back to your dorm?” He then asked, feeling bad that Ben would have to walk all the back in crutches.

“Thanks, but I’m all set. See you tomorrow!” Ben replied as he walked out of the classroom. Walking down the hallway, Ben could see that the sun was setting and the orange sky made an interesting sight to see. He figured that if Max was here to see it, she would have pulled out her camera to take a picture of it without a doubt. As he made his way down the hall, he looked into some of the rooms that had their doors open and saw that Kate was sitting in the student longue by herself. She didn’t look like she was upset though. She was peacefully reading a book.

Ben figured that maybe the student longue was where Kate preferred to do her studying, and who could blame her? The library and the student longue where open to all of the students after school until curfew went into effect. Unfortunately, there were very few students who took advantage of this. Ben entered the room to approach Kate and see what it was she was up to. As he was getting closer, Kate lifted up her head after hearing the sound of Ben’s crutches.

“Hi Ben.” Kate said, greeting him with a smile like she usually did.

“Hey, Kate. What’s up?” Ben replied happily to her. He then sat at one of the comfortable chairs right next to her.

“Nothing much really. I’m just getting ready for our weekly Bible Study session.”

“Oh, I hope I’m not intruding on anything then.” Ben expressed to her.

“You’re not intruding at all, Ben. I just got here a few minutes ago. But it seems like there might actually be a few no shows tonight.”

“Oh, really?” Ben asked.

“Yes. I checked my phone and got a few texts from people. Alyssa said that she has a lot of homework tonight and Stella said that she isn’t feeling well.” Kate explained. “Usually, when no one else shows up on time, I just read my bible for the next fifteen minutes and get ready to leave if I’m still the only one here.”

“Gotcha! You don’t mind if I hang out here for a while until one of your study buddies show up, do you?” Ben asked sincerely.

“Not at all. You’re always welcome to join in on us too. We meet every Tuesday at this time.” Kate offered. She looked at her phone to see that she received a text from Max.

**_Max:_ **

**_Hey, Kate! Have you seen my camera at all? I could have sworn I left it in my room when I last had it and I’ve looked everywhere in there for it. No one else in our dorm has seen it either._ **

“Max just texted me saying that her camera is missing.” Kate told Ben.

“Yeah, she just texted me too. That’s weird. I saw her today in History class with her camera and she always has it on her. It’s not like her to lose it.” He said.

“You’re right. It does sound a bit weird.” She replied.

**_Kate:_ **

**_Hey Max! Sorry, but I haven’t seen it anywhere. I’m with Ben right now and he said hasn’t seen it either. I hope you find it soon._ **

**_Max:_ **

**_Thanks, Kate! Warren and I are currently searching it for right now. I hope Ben is keeping you company ;)_ **

**_Kate:_ **

**_What do you mean by that?_ **

**_Max:_ **

**_Come on Kate. You know what I mean :P_ **

“What are you smiling about?” Ben asked with wonder.

Kate didn’t even realize that she had a smirk on her face from reading Max’s text. Not wanting to explain it to Ben, she thought of an excuse to tell him. “Oh, Max just texted me something funny, that’s all.”

“It was that funny that it made you blush?” Ben asked confused. He was referring to how she was also blushing along with her smirk.

“You know, I just remembered that I meant to give you something earlier today.” Kate brought up, hoping to change the subject.

“Really? What is it?” Ben asked.

“You’ll see.” Kate said as she was opening up her folder to find the drawing that she made for Ben. “Here it is. I made this for you.” She then handed the sheet of paper to Ben who accepted it.

“Thanks.” Ben said as he took the drawing. He analyzed it thoroughly, seeing the little football player which he knew was him by seeing his number on the jersey. He even saw the little smiling angel tossing the football above him with the message that she even wrote for him. “Kate, this is amazing. I love this. And... You didn’t have to do this for me.”

“But I wanted to. I’m just really glad that we became friends. And I hated seeing you sad in hospital yesterday. People like you don’t deserve to have bad days, Ben.” She said.

“Thanks, Kate. That means a lot. And this is definitely going up on my wall for sure.” He replied.

“Aw, Ben, that’s so sweet of you.” Kate said.  

“You should get used to hearing that. I’m sure that people will be lining up outside of stores one day to buy your children’s books so they can read them to their kids.”

“I can only pray that does happen.”

“Well I think it’s bound to happen.” Ben reassured her. “You know, I wanted to ask you something.”

“What’s that?” She asked.

“Well, the big Halloween Party that Dana organized is this Friday and I was wondering if you wanted to go.” Ben asked.

“Do mean like... to go together like as a date?” Kate questioned.

“Well, yeah. But I was thinking of us going as friends more than anything. Plus we could get Max and Warren to tag along with us too. That is if they’re not all goo-goo eyes over each other.”

‘ _Wait. Did I just unintentionally but intentionally put her in the friendzone? I think I did. Nice going Ben._ ’ He thought to himself.  

“I appreciate the offer Ben, but parties just aren’t really my thing. Especially after the last one I went to.” Kate answered.

“ _Nice going, Ferris. Out of all the things you could mention to her, you just had to bring up a sore subject like parties. Too soon!_ ” Ben thought to himself.

“Well, I guess no one else is going to show up. I think I’m going to head back to my dorm now.” Kate gathered her Bible and the rest of her belongings and got up from her seat ready to leave.

“I’m still here though.” Ben said.

“Sorry?” Kate asked, trying to figure out what Ben was trying to say.

“What I meant to say was that I was kind of hoping you would still hold your Bible Study tonight.” He said shyly.

“Ben, I’m surprised to hear that you wanted to talk about the word of God. What exactly did you want to discuss in particular?” Kate said as she sat back down in the chair.

“Actually, I was really looking for some guidance if anything.” He answered.

“I might be able to help with that. What’s on your mind?” She said.

“Well, I’ve been a bit uncomfortable with sharing it with other people.” Ben said as he looked at his clasped hands.

“Ben, it’s okay.” Kate said calmly as she placed her hand on his arm. “Whatever it is you tell me, I promise I won’t tell it to anyone. You helped me more than once, so the least you can do right now is let me help you.”

“Thanks, Kate.” Ben said, sounding a bit more confident. “To be honest, I just feel like I’m conflicted at times.”

“About what?” She asked.

“Where do I even start? All I really just want to do here more than anything else is to act. I know that because I discovered I had an interest for it over the summer. That’s why I decided to come to Blackwell this year.”

“I didn’t know that this was your first year at Blackwell. I started in September too.” Kate brought up. “Where did you go before?”

“I actually went to a high school that was a lot bigger than Blackwell. Student population was at least 5,000.” He said.

“Oh my. That does sound big.” She said.

“Yep! It was like its own thriving city. I had lots of friends there and played for the football team, but it always seemed a bit too large for me. I wanted to go somewhere else. Somewhere where I could be a familiar face to people instead of being student number 1,342.” Ben explained. “How bout you? Where did you go to school before coming here?

“I went to a private Christian school. They taught kindergarten all the way to the twelfth grade, which means I practically went there my whole life. So I wanted to go to Blackwell since I was seeking something new and different.” Kate shared.

“Different can be good sometimes. It sounds like we both had our reasons to come to this place.” Ben agreed.

“I suppose so. Anyway, what was you’re saying before we got sidetracked.” Kate said as she giggled that she was getting to have another conversation with Ben.

“Right. Basically, all I’ve wanted to do was get involved in the Drama club here at Blackwell and be able to perform in the school plays since it’s my only year to do it. The only problem is that there’s always these obstacles in my way that are keeping me from trying to go after what I want to do.” He said.

“Really? Like what?” Kate asked.

“Like football. It’s the reason that I couldn’t audition for the school play like I hoped to. It’s also the reason I’m like this right now.” Ben said as he pointed to his cast to show Kate.

“If you really wanted to be a part of the Drama club so badly, why didn’t you just leave the football team to follow your ambition?” Kate asked, sounding perplexed by all of this.

“That’s the same question I ask myself. Maybe there’s just more than one answer. There’s the fact that my dad made me the captain of the team in the beginning of the season. There’s the perks of being on the team in terms of popularity. But more importantly, it’s just the sport that I’ve loved for as long as I can remember.” Ben stated.

“I never knew that about you?” Kate admitted.

“Oh Yeah! My dad taught me how to play the sport since I was eight. Even if I wasn’t playing on the field myself, I could always be caught watching an NFL game or even college ball.”

“What’s your favorite team?” Kate asked with interest.

“I’m a loyal San Francisco 49ners fan, considering I’ve spent most of my life there. You?”

“Oh, I don’t really follow football.” Kate admitted timidly. “My dad is a huge Seattle Seahawks fan, so he would probably have to disagree with you on your team preference.” She said as she laughed.

“Yeah well, you aren’t the first person here to tell me that and you probably won’t be the last.” Ben joked. “But anyway, what I was saying is that, this sport has just played a large role in my life. The reason I said I was conflicted was because as much as I want to try something new and exciting in life, I’m just not sure if I’m ready to let go of my life as an athlete. But maybe my injury was a sign.”

“What do you mean by that?” She questioned.

“While I was in the hospital, my doctor told me I would be able to play again. He also told me that my knee would give me some problems if I were to continue playing in college.” He told her.

“I shouldn’t tell what to do in this kind of situation, Ben. I just don’t want you to make a decision that you’ll regret because of me. I only hope that you’ll find your answer for what to do. But I’m glad you were willing to share how you were feeling.” She said.

“Thanks, Kate. I appreciate that you listened.” Ben said.

“Of course, Ben. You’ve been there for me more than once. And I feel like we’re both naturally good listeners.” Kate replied.

“Well, that was all that was on my mind. I’m kinda ready to head back to my dorm now too if you are.”

“Sure.” Kate replied. “Do need any help getting back to your room?” Kate said as she offered her assistance to Ben.

“Yeah! That would be great.” Ben replied.

* * *

Ben and Kate were now on the boys’ floor of the Prescott Dormitory, the dorm where students lived on campus. The two of them then began to make their way down the long hall. No one had even noticed them together since the boys on this floor always had their doors closed most of the time.

“Which room is yours?” Kate asked Ben.

“Room 110. It’s the last one down on the left side.” Ben answered.

They made their way down the hall, hearing the sounds of blaring music or audio from TV’s coming from some of the rooms, complete with the scent of pizza, buffalo wings, or weed that the two of them could both smell. Kate stood behind as he opened the door to his room and flicked on the light switch.

“You can come in if you want.” Ben mentioned as he saw her standing awkwardly in the hallway.

“Oh, thanks.” Kate said as she felt slightly embarrassed after realizing she just stood there. This was her first time being in the boys’ dorm after all, so she did feel as if she landed on another planet.

“Anyway, welcome to my office.” Ben said as he proudly showed Kate the layout of his room.

“Wow, it looks so... neat.” Kate said as she looked around and marveled at the sights of his room.

“Hey, I’ll have you know that I take good care of this place.” Ben joked.

“Oh no, I didn’t mean it like that.” Kate tried to explain.

“It’s alright Kate, I’m just messing with you.” Ben said as he laughed.

Kate was amazed at how Ben’s room looked, she saw that there were posters of his favorite football players and movies hanging up on the wall, along with both an American flag and a flag of the state of California. There was even a football that sat on Ben’s desk, which he would toss in the air whenever he was bored. As Kate still observed the many items in his room, Ben pulled out the drawing she made for him in his backpack and grabbed some pieces of tape to hang it up on his wall.

“Voila! Kate, you’re masterpiece is now hung up on the wall of ‘El Casa del Ferris’.” He said to get her attention and to possibly get another laugh out of her. Only he noticed that she was paying no attention to a single word that he said.

“What’s this?” She asked with curiosity in her voice. He looked over at her to see that she was pointing at the record player sitting on top of his shelf.

“Oh that? It’s my record player. It actually belonged to my mom, but she decided to give it to me before I moved back to Arcadia Bay.” He explained.

“I’ve never seen one of these in real life before.” Kate expressed in astonishment. “How does it work?”

“Let me show you.” Ben expressed eagerly. “First we need to pick a record.” Ben moved over next to Kate, who was still standing in front of the record player and the shelf, where he kept all of his records. He slowly squatted down, making sure that he didn’t cause any pain or discomfort to his knee. While peering through the records, he decided to search for one that he hadn’t listened to in a while. That way, it would be a surprise for both him and Kate.

“I’m apologizing to you in advance for my taste in music. I only have my mom to blame for my love of the classics from her time.” Ben stated.

“That’s fine. I’m sure it will still be quite a listening experience for me.” Kate replied while laughing. “Are there any bad words in these songs?”

‘ _God, she’s so freaking cute sometimes._ ’ Ben thought to himself before snapping himself out of it.

“Not at all.” Ben confirmed. “The music from this era was more meaningful and focused more about the rhythm, compared to the rubbish all the young folks listen to these days.” He said in his best impersonation of an old man while shaking his crutch in one hand. Kate began to giggle once more at the boy’s antics. Somehow, he just always knew how to make her laugh. Ben might have been injured, but he didn’t lose his sense of humor. It was no wonder someone like him was at Blackwell to study acting.

“So what did you find, Grandpa?” Kate asked while mocking Ben.

“Something that people before our time would call a ‘doozie’.” Ben replied as he stood up with a record case in his other hand.

“A doozie?” Kate asked, questioning the meaning behind that word.

“That’s right! Kate Marsh, I am about to introduce a man into your life named David Bowie.” Ben stated excitedly as he held up the case of a vinyl album to her, which was titled, _Hunky Dory._

“Is that a man or a woman?” Kate asked, sounding perplexed, while pointing to the figure on the cover of the album who happened to be David Bowie himself. He had long blonde hair that he was brushing behind his head with his hands and appeared to be wearing an oddly colorful dress shirt.

“A lot of people ask that question. I say, he’s a musical genius. Come on, let’s put this bad boy in. I’ll show you how it works too.” Ben said. “First we place the record onto the turntable and flip the switch to turn it on.” Ben slipped the vinyl record out of its case and placed onto the turntable. He then began to instruct Kate on what to do next.

“Then, you take that tone arm over there to place it onto the record.” Kate was surprised to see what happened next, as Ben took her left hand and carried it over to the tone arm. Her small pale hand felt so soft and warm as Ben had lightly grasped it. Kate placed all of her trust in Ben and let him freely move it over to the tone arm. She then grabbed it with her thumb and her index and middle finger, and watched as her and Ben’s hands moved the arm together towards the record.

“Now we just place it on the record.” Ben said as he lightly moved her hand down to place it on the record’s surface. Kate was excited to see the record player now work in action, only to notice that there was no music that played immediately.

“Nothing’s happening.” Kate mentioned.

“It just takes a few seconds to start up.” Ben explained. As the two talked to each other, the music then started as Bowie’s hit song from the album, _Changes_ began to play. Kate couldn’t help but admire how music could be coming from such a small and old device. Yet again, her iPhone, which was much smaller could do the same, meaning it had to have taken some inspiration from somewhere else. As she bobbed her head and swayed left and right to the catchy tune and Bowie’s mesmerizing lyrics, she turned around to see Ben bouncing around on his uncast leg. He was even swinging both of his crutches around, but not flailing them in a manner that would hit Kate.

“What are you doing?” Kate said as she couldn’t help but smile, seeing him move in such a goofy manner. 

“What? I always like dancing when I hear some good music. And I’m short on a leg here. What’s your excuse?” Ben teased at Kate, who wasn’t nearly as energetic as him.

“I don’t really dance.” Kate said coyly.

“Come on, church girl. Shake that booty like its Sunday morning!” Ben shouted playfully to encourage Kate to move around with him. Kate began to swing her arms and sway her hips to the groove of the song. She felt that she probably looked ridiculous, but she couldn’t deny that she was having fun having a little dance party in Ben’s room. Her smile had said it all.

“There you go, Kate!” Ben said gleefully as Kate was now more loose and moving around freely.

As the music still played both of their eyes had met each other’s at one point. However, they were having too much fun together to even realize it. Kate thought back to her decision to attend the Vortex Club party on that fateful night. She wished that she had met Ben before and learned about his playful personality, now realizing that she never needed alcohol or parties in general to try and have a good time like everyone else at Blackwell. All she needed was good friends and maybe even some music.

The song eventually came to an end and the two had stopped dancing together when they realized there was no more music playing. Ben placed the bottom of both of his crutches on the floor to regain his footing and looked at Kate who seemed to also enjoy their dance session.

“That was really fun.” Kate confessed cheerfully. She then used her hand to move a lock of her hair that was in her face from wobbling around.

“Tell me about it. I pretty much do this at least once a day.” Ben admitted to Kate with a bashful smile. “Although today kind of proved a challenge with this whole injury.”

“You should really try and take it easy. I’m sure your doctor didn’t recommend you to start dancing as soon as they let you out of the hospital.” Kate joked.

“I can’t really help it though. I just love to dance. I kind of have the reputation of tearing apart the dance floor at parties here.” Ben stated proudly. He then heard an alert on his phone go off.

“Did you get a text?” Kate asked.

“No, it’s just a reminder for me to take my Acetaminophen the doctor prescribed for me. I’m supposed to take it with water too.” Ben said.

“Let me help you with that.” Kate replied.

“Kate, you don’t have to...”

“Ben, don’t be so stubborn. Everybody needs a little bit help doing small tasks every now and then. Besides I’m here anyway aren’t I?” She said.

“This is true.” He said.

“Exactly, so hush.” Kate said playfully. “Here let me help you get onto your bed. Then I’ll get your medication and some water for you.” Kate said. She approached him and placed both of her hands on his arms to escort him over to his bed.

Before Kate could even move Ben over to his bed, the door to Ben’s room flew wide open and caught both of them off guard. What followed after this was a bright flash that blinded both of them as they looked into the doorway. Kate who was startled, had held onto tightly to Ben. As the two both regained their vision, they saw three figures standing in the doorway and heard the sound of snickering from them. In the middle was Nathan holding a Polaroid camera, and standing next to him on both sides was Logan and his buddy who were both hassling Daniel earlier today.

“Oh man, talk about a money shot.” Nathan remarked after snapping a picture with the camera. “I gotta say Ben, I didn’t think you were gonna pull it off, but it looks like you’re whole little plan was working after all.”

‘ _Plan? What are you talking about Nate?’_ Ben thought to himself.

Ben’s thought came to a dead end as he could hear the sound of chuckling coming from outside of his doorway, where the three boys stood. There were more of his teammates, just coming back from practice, who were all standing out in the hallway trying to get a glimpse of what was happening in the room. ‘ _This can’t be happening right now._ ’ He then thought to himself with a worried look on his face.

“Ben, what is he talking about?” Kate asked with a slight hint of fear in her voice. The sound of her voice caused Ben to look back at her.

“Aw, you mean Kate doesn’t even know?” Nathan asked in a surprised tone. “Well allow me to explain.”

Whatever it was that Nathan was going to do, Ben wasn’t going to have any of it. “Nate, you better get the hell out of here right now if you know what’s good for you...”

“Oh, spare me the threats, Ferris. Everyone saw me own your ass in the halls this morning, so I think we know how things would play out if we went for round two. Either way you’re not getting out of this one.” Nathan mocked.

Kate was now in a bad combination of both confused and worried about what was about to happen. More importantly, she didn’t know what Ben would have to do with any of this.

“You see Kate, while you were in the hospital last week, Ben couldn’t stop going on about how easily he could take away your virginity as soon as you came back.”

“What?” Kate said in shock as she gave Ben a disturbed look. She released her grip on his arms and then averted her gaze from him.

“That’s right. He told me all about it after he made his big speech dedicated to you, Kate. He seemed like he meant well with throwing the rally and visiting you and all, but nobody was aware of his true intentions. I was even shocked that he was thinking of something so vile, shortly after everything you went through.”

Kate now had tears building up in her eyes and tried her best to get words to come out of her mouth. It was difficult for her as she began to choke up. “Ben, how could you even...”

“Kate, I would never try to do something like that. He’s lying...”

“Now do you believe me, Kate? I know who the real Ben Ferris is better than anyone else here. Behind that whole kind-hearted football player personality and Blackwell Hero bravado, he’s just nothing but a player who wanted to get in your holy panties this whole time. How do you even look at yourself in the mirror, Ben?”

Ben was tired of hearing Nathan’s false accusations. This wasn’t him at all. He saw Kate as a friend and nothing less. Not some object to slept with and thrown to the side. He dropped one his crutches to the ground and reached out his left hand to lift up her head and comfort her. He saw that she was now sobbing and had tears running down both of her cheeks. He didn’t need to see her cry again, especially not like this.

“Kate, listen to me. Not him, okay? You’re my friend and I will always respect you and your body. And I would never do anything to hurt you.” Ben pleaded to her.

“Am I really Ben? Or was I just another girl that you thought you could add to your whole ‘body count’.” Kate spoke angrily at him. She couldn’t even hear the sound of laughter coming from Nathan, Logan, or the other football players out in the hallway who were also enjoying the drama unfold. Her attention was only focused on Ben.

“Where you just trying to be nice to me all this time so you could invite me to your room and take advantage of me. Like right now?” Kate asked.

“Kate, you know that’s not true. Just let me explain everything to...”

“No!” Kate shouted. She pushed Ben away from her with enough force, which caused him to fall to the floor since he only had one crutch to help him stand. “Just leave me alone, Ben! Forever!” She cried out loud.

The room began to fill with more laughter as Ben fell on his back. He couldn’t even see Kate storm out of her room with her teary-eyed face buried in her hands. She had brushed through Nathan and Logan and every other football player in the hall as they didn’t even care where she was going. They were all focusing on Ben, who was now the center of attention.

“You know what’s even more funny, Ben? It’s that Kate told me to my face today that you were actually a real gentleman.” Nathan mocked at Ben still on the floor. He shook the photograph that was taken on the camera and threw it to Ben who watched it slowly descend to the floor like a leaf falling from a tree.

“Keep the picture.” Nathan told Ben. “I thought it would have been perfect to post all over social media considering Victoria decided to take down Kate’s video. But I figured you could use it instead. I’ve got the perfect name for it too, ‘The One Who Got Away from Ben Ferris’.” Nathan said.

“You know what Nate? In fifty years from now when we’re old, I hope we both die and go to hell together. That way, I can torture the shit out of you for an eternity.” Ben said with an angered look on his face.

“Whatever, Ferris. I might actually consider asking Kate to pray for my forgiveness after I take her out to dinner tomorrow night, anyway.”

‘Kate? Going out to _dinner with Nathan? That can’t be true. He’s just trying to rile me up some_ _more_.’ Ben thought to himself.

_“_ You know something, Ben? This could have all been avoided if you just didn’t snitch on me to that worthless drunk of a Principal.” Nathan commented. “And speaking of snitches, you can give that pixie-hipster, Max, her camera back. I’m done using it now anyway. Who knows, you can try seeing if she’ll hook up with you instead of Kate.”

Nathan then threw the camera in the direction of Ben, who then caught it with both of his hands before it could hit the floor. As Ben looked back up, he saw that Nathan and everyone else was now leaving and going their own separate ways. What just happened was probably the worst moment of Ben’s experience at Blackwell so far. Someone who was once his friend had been making constant efforts to attack him. Now, Nathan finally succeeded while hurting Ben’s newest friend in the process.

Ben looked at the picture that Nathan had taken of him and Kate. He saw the surprised look on both of their faces that were unaware of what kind of humiliation they would meet shortly after the picture was taken. He ripped the photo in several pieces and tossed them away from him. Ben did nothing but continue to sit on the floor of his room in silence. He did this for hours and didn’t even take his prescribed medication to treat his injury. He eventually began to feel a slight pain in his knee from sitting in such a manner and from not taking the medication combined. The pain didn’t matter to him though, as he felt the greater pain of losing a friend’s trust. Kate was right about what she said to Ben during the first time he went to see her at the hospital. Nathan Prescott had to pay for what he had done, before he hurt anyone else. Ben was so reluctant to do so, that he allowed Nathan to hurt Kate again. That night, Ben swore that he was going to make Nathan pay for everything that he had done. But it wasn’t for Chloe or Kate’s sake. This time, it was going to be completely personal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it, I know it ended with a heap of Drama but sometimes, you really need drama as a means for character development and building up the plot. My goal is to upload the next few chapters at some point this week, so for those of you still reading this story, you'll have a lot to keep you busy. Please be kind and take some time to leave a comment. After all, feedback is essential for a writer.


	12. Invisible Wounds

**Ben and Nathan Flashback:**

It was just another fun-filled Friday night at Blackwell. A majority of the students were found attending the Vortex Club Party that took place after the Bigfoots had won their home game against Portland Tech by shutting out their opponents. This meant that every student had a reason to celebrate tonight, whether they were out playing on the field or showing their support and school spirit in the bleachers. As everyone was enjoying the music blaring from the DJ's speakers by shouting, singing, and dancing to the songs, Ben and Nathan were both seen leaving the VIP area and walking over to the bar. Nathan had seemed to be completely sober while Ben was absolutely hammered. He was just more than happy that his team won tonight's game.

"Whew! Dude, I am... so fucking twisted right now. What did Hayden even put in that bong?" Ben shouted ecstatically as he was walking with Nathan and slightly stumbling around. He began to lean against Nathan, putting some of his weight against him.

"That was nothing but the good shit that you just smoked, Ben." Nathan said as he was struggling to push his heavily intoxicated friend off of him. "Man, what have you been eating anyway?" He commented.

"My bad, Nate! I've just been having too much fun tonight." Ben said.

"Nothing wrong with that. The way I see it, a guy like you deserves to let loose whenever he wants." Nathan replied.

"You think so?" He asked.

"Of course I do, Ben. What do you say we hang out at the bar for a bit?" He suggested.

"Sure thing. As long as your rich ass is buying me a drink, sailor." Ben joked as he smacked Nathan's back very hard.

"I could buy you the whole keg if I wanted to, big guy." He said. The two friends had plopped down on two empty chairs at the bar. "Two bud-lights." Nathan ordered to the bartender.

"Man, I gotta say... this is definitely more than what I was expecting when I came to Blackwell." Ben shared as he was taking in the atmosphere of the party while sitting at the bar.

"It never gets old does it?" Nathan asked as he picked up on Ben's awe. "You know, it just occurred to me that we've been hanging out together for practically a month now and I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Okay, shoot." Ben said.

"Of all the places out there in the world, why Arcadia Bay? Why Blackwell? A California bigshot like you could be playing D1 football at any university he wants, but you chose to take part in the extended senior program that this school offers." He said.

"To be honest, I guess I was kinda tired of the big city life and just wanted to have a new fresh start for a change. So, what better than to come back to the town that I was born in? Plus, the school's Drama program kind of got my attention when I realized how much I wanted to act." Ben explained. "What about you? What is it that convinced Nathan Prescott to stay one more year at Blackwell?"

"Come on, Ferris? You know the answer to that." Nathan teased as he playfully punched Ben's arm. "My family owns this joint. I basically get to go here for free and I run all the parties here anyway."

"You've got a point. Long live the king, am I right?" Ben said as he chuckled. "What I meant was... what is it about Blackwell that really interests you? Everybody has their own personal taste in art at this place."

"Photography." Nathan replied.

"Really? So what kind of stuff do you shoot?" Ben questioned

"Just some modeling photos that I have people do for me." He said.

"That's pretty cool! You should definitely share some of your pics on Facebook and Instagram, then. Show people what your true passion is." He encouraged.

"I think I'll pass on that. Let's just say I prefer to keep my work to myself."

"Come on, bro. You should be comfortable with putting your stuff out there. Just like any artist would."

"Now you're starting to sound a lot like Mark Jefferson." Nathan commented.

"Hey, Mr. J's aloof, but he... definitely knows his shit." Ben said as he slurred his words. The bartender came back with two cups of beer for the two friends. As Ben put his red solo cup to his lips, he could see that Nathan was quiet and staring at the crowd of students having the time of their lives.

"You know something, Nate? A lot of people here might talk shit behind your back and say you're nothing but bad news, but you ain't so bad at all. I guess they just haven't spent enough time to know the real Nathan Prescott."

"Wow, Ben. I think that's the first time I've heard you speak so highly of me before." Nathan said as he looked back at Ben.

"Ah come on, don't get all soft on me now, dude." Ben joked. "Honestly, meeting you and joining the Vortex Club was probably the best thing that could happen to me here. Let's just make sure that as long we're friends, neither of us will let some girl get in the way between us." Ben lifted up his cup and held it out to Nathan, hoping that he would do the same.

"I'll drink to that, Sir Benjamin." Nathan said as he clinked Ben's cup and the two of them sipped on their beer together.

Ben and Nathan both continued to sit at the bar and looked out at the crowd of students. As Nathan looked further into the crowd, he could see Kate Marsh from the distance, hoping to find someone at the party that she would know. He began to develop a wolfish grin after spotting her.

"Right on time." Nathan mumbled to himself.

"Huh?" Ben asked as he heard Nathan say something.

"I didn't say anything." Nathan replied.

"Okay?" Ben said as he shrugged.

"Hey, Ben? What do you think of Kate by the way?" Nathan asked as he still kept his eye on the girl.

"Kate? Oh, you mean the cute blonde who leads the abstinence campaign? She seems nice. I just wish people didn't give her a hard time about her religion and all." Ben answered. "I haven't actually talked to her before. Why?"

"Well, I just happened to see her here and she's walking around by herself without a drink in her hand. Something's gotta change about that." Nathan said. He then ordered a cup of red wine from the bartender.

"You're right! I think I'm gonna go talk to her so she doesn't feel awkward being here." Ben stated confidently as he got up out of his chair and was beginning to walk over to where she was.

"Actually, that might not be a good idea, Ben." Nathan advised as he grabbed Ben by his shoulder before he could even leave.

"Why not?" Ben asked while sounding confused.

"Because you smell like a bar connected to a dispensary, dude." Nathan remarked as he referenced the smell of alcohol and weed that was coming off of Ben. "And you are known to be loud and reckless after having a lot to drink. We don't need you scaring away poor Kate at her first Vortex Club Party."

"I guess you've got a point." Ben replied sounding confused as to why Nathan was bringing this up.

"Look, I'll be real quick talking to Kate. In the meantime, why don't you head back inside the VIP area? I saw plenty of babes in there to keep you company for the rest of the night." Nathan said. He then raised the red solo cup that was in Ben's hand, putting it close to his face and titling it up for him to chug the rest of his drink. "I figured you could use a little liquid courage before you go back into the lion's den."

"Thanks for the beer, man. Try not to... take too long, okay? And be sure to tell... Kathy I said hi." Ben said as slurred his speech once again and even got Kate's name wrong. He began to stumble back to the VIP area to continue partying. "And, Nate..." Ben called out to get Nathan's attention. Nathan looked back to see what Ben had to say. "I love you, bro!" Ben said back in a caring voice before he went through the curtains of the VIP area.

Nathan only smiled and nodded at Ben. He then began to walk away from the bar, carrying the two cups in his hand. His own beer and the cup of wine for Kate.

**End of Flashback:**

* * *

 

It was hard to believe that night happened just two weekends ago. It was also no surprise that Ben was up early before anyone else. After the entire episode that happened in his room last night, which was all orchestrated by Nathan, how could he even sleep in the first place? Usually, when he did have a hard time trying to get some rest, Ben would go out for a run or even lift some weights to help alleviate some stress. He was in the school's weight room, which was only open to athletes at the school. It was also where Ben could be found in the mornings or afternoons to get in a good workout before practice. Sure he did have an injury that he was trying to deal with, but that didn't mean he couldn't train the rest of his body. He sat over at the flat bench press, finishing the last few reps of his final set. He placed the barbell back on its resting place and reached for his water bottle next to him. He lifted off the cap of the bottle and tilted his head back, guzzling as much of the water as he could. After he wiped away all the sweat on his forehead, he could see Zach entering the room. His friend was dressed in a t-shirt and gym shorts and walked over to the incline bench press station next to Ben. He removed his headphones, to which Ben could hear some sort of heavy-metal type song blaring from them, and initiated a conversation with Ben.

"What's up, dude?" Zach asked as he began to place a few weighted plates on the barbell.

"Not much. Just couldn't sleep really." Ben answered.

"You still worked up over that shit Nate did to you last night?"

"Don't I have every right to be? Besides, I'm sure you had a good seat to enjoy the entire shit show."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I wasn't there. Everybody was talking about how Prescott had some kind of surprise for the entire team after practice, but I told them I couldn't be there. I took Juliet out for dinner and a movie last night."

"Oh, Really? What was the occasion?"

"Nothing special. I just had to find some way to get her to forgive me after she found out about me sexting with Victoria." Zach confessed. "Besides, Logan was raving all about what happened to me and Juliet when we got back from the movies."

"Of course he did. It's only a matter of time until word gets out to the entire school today."

"Actually, I kind of doubt that."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because I group messaged the whole team and told them not to talk about what happened last night. The Bigfoots aren't just a team, Ben. We're a family. And we don't ridicule one of our own. Ever!"

"You really did that? But why?"

"Because it's wrong, I guess." Zach answered. "Juliet kinda brought up a good point. She mentioned the fact that it was just you and Kate in your room together with the door closed. Whether you two were about to fuck or not doesn't matter to anyone else because it's your own privacy, which Nate should have respected."

"Good to see that's how she saw things."

"Oh yeah! And if you ask me, I doubt that someone like you had any bad intentions with Kate after everything you've done for her and all. You really helped open everyone's eyes on how she should have been treated here after she tried to... you know. And I know you've got the reputation of being every girl's eye candy and all, but I know better than anyone else that deep down inside, you're really a softie when it comes to the ladies."

"What?"

"Come on, man. I still remember your third Vortex Club party when you were twelve beers deep and told Victoria that you wanted to be more than just friends. Then she told you that she was satisfied with the two of you staying friends with benefits. You barged into my room at two in the morning, bawling like a fussy baby for hours." Zach said as he laughed.

"Okay, I get it." Ben replied sounding embarrassed.

"Sorry, I just had to think back to it." Zach laughed. "Anyway, I did see you and Kate walking in the halls together yesterday and you actually looked happier than usual."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning you should spend some more time with her, bro. Sure she probably hates your guts about the shit that Nathan made up about you, but she'll get over it soon. She has to with her whole beliefs about forgiveness and stuff. See, I'm even your wingman when there's no Vortex Club parties going on."

"I guess you're right. Thanks for the advice, bro."

"No problem, man. Just make sure you don't screw things up with Kate. I never realized it until yesterday, but she's actually kinda hot. I could have sworn Juliet almost caught me looking at Kate's legs in the hallway, but can you really blame me with those skirts that she always wears. And don't even get me started with her..."

"And, this conversation is officially over, Zachary." Ben said with a slightly annoyed look on his face. He stood up and began to leave the weight room to head back to his dorm and shower.

"Right, my bad." Zach said, looking embarrassed by how he was talking about Kate. "Just remember what I said, though. And I know it might be tempting, but try your best not to rip Nathan's head off if you see him today. He's still our friend after all."

'Yeah, friend.' Ben thought to himself as he left the room. He pulled out his phone to text two people. He could see Kate's name on his messages but felt that he needed to give her some time before talking to her. He had sent out two messages, one to Max and one to Chloe.

**Ben:**

_Yo, Max! I found your camera last night. I'll explain where I found it when I see you. Can you meet me in front of the school this morning? I have to talk to you about something._

Chloe, I'm ready. It's time we took down Nathan together. Meet me at the statue in front of Blackwell in two hours and we can talk about what exactly you need me to do to.

Ben began to walk over to the shining bronze statue of Jeremiah Blackwell and could see Chloe sitting at the base of the statue smoking a cigarette. He knew that Chloe didn't smoke tobacco, but that she would sometimes stuff her weed into cigarette wrappers so that she could toke up peacefully in public. As he approached Chloe, she looked up at him to see him taking a seat next to her.

"You're late." Chloe commented with a cheeky smile.

"Yeah well, getting an injury does that to you. Don't even get me started on how hard it is to take a number two while trying to be comfortable with this cast on." Ben replied jokingly.

"Okay, that's hella info you're giving me right now." Chloe replied as she rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I thought there was a rule here about no smoking on campus." Ben joked as he mentioned Chloe's lit cigarette.

"Funny! For your information, wise guy, this is pure medicinal shit. Helps me with my hangovers. Plus I'm not a student here anymore, meaning the rules no longer apply to me. Which means we should talk fast before my step-prick sees me here." She said.

"Right, let's talk." He replied.

"So, like Max and I were saying last week, Nathan has to have a clue about what happened to Rachel..."

"And Kate." Ben added.

"Right! He's obviously not gonna talk, so we'll have to find a way into his dorm room and find any kind of evidence in there. Which is where you come in." Chloe explained the whole plan to Ben, who was looking out in the distance. She picked up on this and decided to question him. "You okay, dude?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He deadpanned. "It kinda seems like a lot of work just to sneak into Nathan's room to find answers. You sure you just don't want me to beat the confession out him?"

"It's tempting, but the last thing we need is him coming after us." She explained. "So, you up to do a little reconnaissance?"

Ben let out a deep sigh before replying. "Ready as I'll ever be."

"Okay, I'll bite. What's up with you? And before you say 'Nothing Chloe, I'm good.', I was already able to read you and tell something was up."

 _'Damn, she's good. I shouldn't be surprised though. Chloe knows me better than most people at this school anyway.'_ Ben thought. "There was some... drama that happened last night between me and Kate. And Nathan was the catalyst of it all." He explained.

"I knew this would happen. You get him suspended once, and for a good reason, then he wants to do everything he can to ruin your life." Chloe commented. "So what did he do this time?"

"Oh believe me, this one really takes the cake, Chloe. Kate and I were just hanging out in my room listening to some music. Then she was trying to help me rest my knee and grab my meds for me to take, and all of a sudden, Nathan and the whole entire football team barge into my room and take a picture of us with Max's camera. He started lying to Kate and telling her that I was taking advantage of her this entire time and only being nice to her just so I could sleep with her. She believed every word he said and stormed out of my room in tears."

"Shit! I'm sorry, dude." Chloe said in shock.

"You're not the one who needs to be sorry. I thought that after everything she went through, I would never have to see her cry again."

"I know it sucks, but you shouldn't blame yourself for it. Kate won't forget how much you helped her and once we find out what happened to her and Rachel, she'll definitely forgive you." Chloe reassured. "Is it a stupid question if I ask what you're gonna do to Nathan when you see him?"

"I don't know, Chloe." Ben said sadly as he sighed. "He was my friend once. But now, after everything he's done to people like you, me, and Kate, I'm going to make him suffer. And I won't let anything stop me from doing that."

"Now I'm kinda worried about you. Don't get me wrong, I think Nathan deserves to be drawn and quartered for all the fucked up shit that he's done in his life. But think about what'll happen if you kill him. You'll get in hella more trouble than when you mouthed off to my step-douche."

"I know Chloe. It's just been a long time since I've ever felt so betrayed or confused."

"So what about Kate? Are you gonna talk to her about last night."

"I have to. I owe her more than just an explanation."

"What do you mean by that?" She asked.

"I have to tell her the truth. The reason why I went out of my way to help her in the first place." He answered.

Chloe paused before she spoke again. "You don't mean..."

"Yeah, I do, Chloe. I have to tell her about Ronnie. About everything from my childhood that... changed me."

"Ben, are you sure that's a good idea? I remember when you had a hard time telling me about all of that shit when I first met you."

"Yeah, I'm sure. Besides you, I haven't told anybody here about what happened to me all those years ago. But if there's anyone that deserves to know, it's Kate."

"Alright, dude. I won't tell what to do. But I hope you'll be okay trying to tell her about it."

"Yeah, me too."

As the two friends were in the middle of their conversation, Max had walked over to talk with them.

"Hey, guys." Max said.

"Sup, Max!" The two replied simultaneously.

"Ben, do you have my camera?" Max asked.

"Sure do, let me get it for you right now." Ben reached into the larger component of his backpack and pulled out the camera, handing it to Max.

"Thanks so much, Ben. I was freaking out all night that it was gone for good." Max replied. "So where did you find it anyway?"

"Nathan fucking Prescott." Chloe answered with disgust in her voice.

"What? Please don't tell me he wasted my film to take a bunch of sick twisted pictures." Max said.

"Don't worry. He only needed to take one." Ben said.

"Of what?" Max asked.

"A sick joke. He used it to pull a prank on me and Kate last night. The only ones laughing were him and everyone on the football team." Ben explained the short version to Max.

"Oh shit. That must have been why Kate was in her room crying last night. I tried to talk to her but her door was locked and she didn't answer." Max explained.

"Have you seen her this morning? I need to talk to her." Ben urged.

"I did but... Ben, she seemed really upset today. She didn't say a word to anybody in our dorm this morning either. And she's not too thrilled that she has to see the school counselor today since she's still on suicide watch."

"Suicide watch? That's insane, Kate doesn't need that. She needs to be with her friends who care about her." Ben protested. "I'm going inside to talk to her." Ben began to walk to the front entrance of the main building to find Kate.

Max reached out her arm to grab Ben's before speaking to him again. "Ben, I don't really think you should try and..."

"It's important, Max." Ben retorted as he shook his arm to be free from Max's grip.

"Ben, wait..."

"Leave him be, Max. I know what's going through his mind right now. He has to do this alone." Chloe said sadly.

* * *

 

"Kate?" A female voice said to Kate. She was completely unaware of the voice that was addressing her.

"Kate?" The voice repeated slightly louder. Kate looked up and made eye contact with the older woman sitting across from her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Beth. I just spaced out for a bit." Kate explained to the woman named Beth, the school counselor.

"It's okay, I was beginning to think I had lost you for a second." Beth replied with a light chuckle. Kate was silent once again. "I understand that being here isn't exactly your idea of spending your first week back at Blackwell, but it's required. We just want to make sure that you're successfully making your way on the road to recovery." She explained to Kate.

"I suppose you're right. I guess I should try to look at this more positively." Kate said. "What was the question again?"

"There you go, Kate. As long as you look at our sessions this way, you'll find them to be more meaningful as well as providing you with advice that can help you or even a friend." Beth happily replied. "So, the question I had for you was: How was your first day back at Blackwell yesterday?"

"It was good." Kate answered.

"Can you tell me more than that?"

"Well, all of my classes went well yesterday. Then I had our usual meeting for Meals on Wheels and then I had Bible Study afterwards."

"That's a good start. And how did the rest of your evening go afterwards?"

As soon as she heard that question, Kate thought back to what occurred last night. The short amount of time she spent in Ben's room which started out as fun between two friends and transformed into a moment of pure humiliation. She decided not to say anything about this and avoid the question as best as she could.

"Nothing else really happened after Bible Study. I just went back to my room and went to bed early since I felt kind of tired from being back for the first day."

"That's understandable, considering you were gone for so long."

There was a beeping sound that came from Beth's watch which was a timer going off. "It looks like that's all the time we have for now, Kate. Remember, these sessions are about learning ways to help you be happy with who you are in the future, despite what others say or think about you. We'll meet again next Wednesday."

"Thank you, Beth."

"You're welcome, Kate. Enjoy the rest of your week and don't hesitate to call or text me over the weekend if you feel you need to."

"Have a good day." Kate said as she smiled and left the counselors office.

As Kate began to walk down the hall she heard a familiar voice of someone calling her name.

"Kate!" Ben called from down the hall as he saw her.

Kate had looked behind her to see that it was Ben who was trying to come over to her. She didn't feel like talking to him though. Not after what had happened last night and what everything Nathan had told her. She wasn't sure if she could completely believe everything that he said about Ben. If anything, Kate just felt confused by all of it and wanted to distance herself from Ben for the time being.

"Kate!" Ben called out again.

Kate didn't even respond and only just walked down the hallway, trying her best to ignore the boy she thought was her friend. As she went around the corner, Ben still made every effort to follow her. Things started to get harder as Kate was now hustling through the hallway and began to blend in with crowds of other students walking to their first class of the day. He completely lost sight of her at this point and with him needing to use his crutches to walk around, there was no way he would be able to catch up to her.

"Shit!" Ben cursed under his breath. For now, he gave up on trying to find her and decided to head to his first class of the day before he was late.

* * *

 

As the day had passed by, Ben was the first student to enter the classroom for his Creative Writing class. His teacher Mrs. Hoida was said to be back from sick leave for the first time today. As he sat in his desk, Ben looked out of the window until more people would enter and class would start. He began to admire the view of the sun and the clouds and could even hear the sound of a few birds chirping. The surroundings of Arcadia Bay were a complete difference from the busy city life of San Francisco. Today looked like another perfect day for Ben to be outside and read a good book or toss around his football with his friends on the team. Sometimes, he would even lay down against the warm grass on the campus and look up at the sky, thinking about anything that was processing through his head. He certainly did have a lot of things to think about. He thought about why Kate had avoided him in the halls today and wouldn't let him try to explain things to her. He even thought back to his talk he had with Zach this morning. He didn't think that Zach could have even provided such thoughtful advice before. Maybe Juliet was beginning to rub off on him.

Regardless, Ben liked seeing his best friend and fellow team captain being with someone that made him happy. He felt the same about Dana, who was becoming more smitten with someone like Trevor. But then it made Ben only think about himself. What was it that he was doing wrong compared to his two friends? Of all the time he spent at Blackwell getting around with so many girls, not one was interested in dating and settling for a relationship. Zach was right about one thing for sure. Ben was definitely a "softie" around the ladies. He was reminded back to when he had first started dating in high school. He was still the same outgoing and friendly guy he was today, but he did have a sensitive side to him as well. Because he spent most of his life living in San Francisco with his mom, he saw himself to be somewhat of a mama's boy at times. Sometimes, his mother would urge the girls that Ben spent time with to try their best to be very delicate with him. Even if she did embarrass him by doing this, she only just wanted what was best for him and to make sure that he was spending his time with a girl that deserved him. The thought of those old memories had made Ben smile, but not for long as he heard the voice of the last person he wanted to see enter the room with a couple of his friends. Nathan was back and ready torment Ben once again.

"Look who it is guys. The 'Hugh Heffner' of Blackwell himself." Nathan remarked as he walked over to his desk, which was behind Ben's but in the row next to his. He was basically sitting diagonally from where Ben sat.

"What's up, porn star? You're still not mad that I intruded on you and Kate too early are you?" Nathan mocked. "I was going to wait, but the whole football was dying to find out what was happening in your room when they heard you, Kate, and your questionable sex playlist. If we all just waited another five minutes, I probably could have gotten a good shot of you ripping that blouse off Kate's hot bod…"

"You wanna do me a solid favor and shut up, Nate?" Ben snapped at Nathan, not even looking at him.

Nathan paused for a brief moment before he continued. "Ah come on Ben, don't be like that. It was all just a prank. Kate sure seemed like she enjoyed her five seconds of fame."

Ben had enough of this and wanted to make his point clear to Nathan. He turned around facing this Nathan this time, with a serious look on his face.

"Look, Nathan. I'm only gonna say this to you once, so you better listen, and listen good. I know that you hate me for getting you suspended and canceling your End of the World Party and I'm sorry, I really am. And you and I both know that what you did to me in front of Kate yesterday was fucked. So you can torture me all you want for the rest of the year, but ONLY me. So keep Kate and any of my other friends that I'm close with, THE FUCK out of it. You hear me?" Ben warned him angrily.

Shortly after Ben gave his warning to Nathan, Max had walked into the classroom as she was also in the same class as the two boys. She felt both perplexed and worried about the scene she had just walked into. She didn't hear Ben's threat towards Nathan, but she did hear Nathan laughing at whatever Ben had said to him.

"Ha, you and Kate? Close? What exactly do you see in her, Ferris?" Nathan snickered. "The way I see it, you keep spending time with her and she'll try to induct you into her whole religious cult. Next thing you know, her whole thing about practicing abstinence will get passed down to the entire football team." He mocked, making it sound like Kate's abstinence was a contagious disease.

"Leave my team out of this!" Ben growled through his gritted teeth. Max picked up on this and knew that things were not going to end well between the two boys.

"Or maybe Kate's just been after you this whole time. She probably thinks that she actually has a chance to end up with the one and only 'Mr. Bigfoot.'" Nathan theorized. "What's that old saying again Ben? Once you go black, you never go..."

"Don't you have anything better to do with your life beside antagonize people who are twice your size?" Max intervened.

"Why don't you mind your goddamn business you nosy bitch?" Nathan hissed at Max. "What? You gonna get you're little boyfriend, Warren GAYrham, to try and beat me up again? That didn't work out last time for him." He said as he kicked his feet up on his desk while laughing. Max only turned her head as she knew that arguing with Nathan wasn't even worth it.

"Just ignore him, Max. Nathan isn't even going to lay a finger on anybody ever again." Ben assured her.

"You sure about that, Ben? You couldn't even take me in a fight last time." Nathan said confidently.

"I won't need to fight you again, Nathan. Because I'm just gonna kill you instead." Ben said. Nathan was stunned at what he just heard Ben say and Max turned around again to look at Ben and make sure she heard what Ben said was right.

"Did you just hear him say that, guys?" Nathan asked his posse sitting near him. "I really wish I had recorded that. Maybe I should report you to the principal and we'll see how you like getting snitched on, Ben."

The bell had rung, indicating that class had started and Mrs. Hoida had walked into the room shortly after.

"Okay class, please take your seats. It's very good to see all of you again." She said smiling at everyone. "So, one of the assignments I had given you was to create your very own poem as we'll be starting our unit on poetry today. I'll be asking each of you to come up to the front and share your poem you've written with the rest of the class. This only counts towards your participation grade in the class. So who would like to start us off?"

"Ben would love to." Nathan shouted out.

"Okay. Ben, would you like to share your work with everyone first?" Mrs. Hoida asked him with a smile on her face.

"Sure." Ben replied. He pulled out a sheet of paper which he had written his poem on. And walked over to the front of the classroom. Mrs. Hoida had pulled a chair over for Ben to sit in, to accommodate his injury. As he sat down into the chair, he now faced everyone in front of him and was ready to address the class.

"I decided to name this poem, 'The Hero's Burden'. I hope you all enjoy it." Ben said.

_What is a hero?_

_To many, the term is praised_

_To others, it is only abhorred_

_A hero is a selfless individual_

_He or she only wishes to do the right thing_

_They will ask for nothing in return_

_Not glory_

_Not fortune_

_Not fame_

_The hero only hopes to set an example_

_Of what the everyday person should strive to be_

_But not everyone agrees with the actions of the hero_

_There are some who see the world differently_

_They only wish to see society tear itself apart_

_Sometimes, they will try to destroy the hero_

_Other times, they will try to destroy his spirit_

_They will do this by hurting the people closest to the hero_

_Their family_

_Their friends_

_Their romantic partner_

_Putting those closest at risk is the hero's true burden_

_It is enough to break him and leave him forever vulnerable_

_So before choosing to be a hero, one must ask their self_

_Is it really worth it?_

The sound of applause coming from the entire classroom was only what followed after Ben had delivered the last stanza of his poem. There were a couple of deep sighs of awe from a few students, who were amazed by how well Ben delivered the powerful and deep message of the poem.

"Thank you, Ben. That was very reflective." Mrs. Hoida said as she praised Ben while sitting at her desk. "I suppose we can just pick people from down the class roster alphabetically at this point. Evan, would you like to go next, please?"

Ben stood up from the chair he sat in and began to make his way back over to his desk. As he sat down, he heard Nathan speak to him again to grab his attention.

"Nice job up there, Ben. I never figured you to be the edgy type." He commented. Ben just ignored him as he knew that it wasn't worth his time to sink to anymore of Nathan's insults. He remembered telling Kate how she had to be stronger than her bullies, so Ben only had to practice what he preached to her.

As the bell rang, concluding the class, everyone was leaving the classroom and heading to the cafeteria for lunch. As Ben was placing his notebook in his backpack, he was approached by Max, who stood in front of his desk.

"Hey, Ben." Max greeted.

"What's up, Max?" Ben asked with half a smile.

"Your poem was really... um, powerful. Don't you think it got a little dark towards the end?"

"It was mostly just based on how I was feeling at the time, that's all."

"Listen, Ben. About what you said to Nathan, before class started today..."

"I didn't actually mean it, Max. I guess I was still just worked up about what happened between us yesterday."

"What actually happened anyway? You mentioned that Kate was involved and she said that she was with you last night. Plus, she didn't seem like herself this morning either."

"It's nothing Max, okay? I appreciate that you want to me, but you can't. You just don't understand what's going between me and Nathan." Ben argued. "I don't mean to sound like a dick, honest. I just need some time to vent to myself is all."

"Okay, Ben." Max replied. "Chloe and I are always if you want to talk."

"I know. Thanks, Max."

Max had left the classroom, having deep concern to Ben as she had never seen him like this before. As she walked down the hall, heading to the cafeteria, she saw Kate who appeared to be talking with David Madsen. Max was alert by this after she heard about how David had given Kate trouble last week. She only just wanted to look out for her friend, so she walked over to the two to see what was going on between them.

"I'd just like to say that I'm deeply sorry for how I approached you last week. It was clearly unprofessional and my only intention was to ensure your own safety along with everyone else's." David explained.

"I know Mr. Madsen. And that's why I forgive you." Kate replied.

"Thank you, Kate. Don't hesitate to let me know if you ever need anything."

"Um, excuse me, Mr. Madsen?"

"Yes, Max. Is there something you have to say?"

"I have a question actually."

"Well in that case, I may have an answer."

"If I had a friend here who was possibly going to hurt someone, what exactly would I do about that?"

"That's simple really. You're looking at the person who you should come and talk to if that were to happen. If you think that a student here is in danger of hurting another person or even their self, then that should be brought to my attention immediately. That goes for the two of you." He stated. "Is this something that I should be aware about, Max?"

"No, it was just a hypothetical situation, that's all."

"Alright then. You two better head on down to the lunch room to grab some grub. I need to make my rounds around the hall instead of chit-chatting." He said as he walked away from the two girls.

Kate and Max both walked down the hall together, while Kate had a very puzzled look on her face and turned to face Max and ask her a question.

"David seems a lot nicer since last week. Don't you think, Max?" Kate asked.

"I don't know if I would use the term nice, but it's a start for him." Max replied.

"What was that question that you asked him all about?" She asked.

"Oh, that? It was just something that I was really curious about." Max answered.

"You are a strange girl sometimes, Max." Kate said as she laughed.

* * *

 

**Kate Diary Entry October 16th 2013:**

I feel so stupid! I know I shouldn't be thinking like this right now, especially after everything I went through last week. But it's just hard not to after what happened last night. I thought that Ben actually cared about me, I really did. But I was wrong about him. His best friend Nathan and his teammates were all standing outside of Ben's room. And Nathan took a picture of us to make it look like we were being promiscuous with each other. Just when Victoria had taken down that video of me, now I have to be worried if Nathan will post that picture on social media. What if people start calling me a slut again? It will be easier for Ben to deal with it because he'll just praised for it just like every other guy.

I still can't believe Ben lied to me all this time. Up on the roof, at the hospital, even when he threw me the rally. It was all just to try and sleep with me. I didn't want to believe what I heard Nathan say, but after what Ben told me when I saw him at the hospital on Monday, after how he told me how many girls he had been with. Some of them live on my floor with me and even have class with me. I don't know what it is that I do to keep being hurt by people here. Sometimes I just wish that my parents had never instilled their religion on me. That way, I could have actually had a normal life. I could have enjoyed the many pleasures that other girls could. Sleep away camp, concerts, a sweet sixteen, parties. I would have never had to deal with the humiliation of putting up those abstinence campaign posters. I probably could have lost my virginity coming here and my mom would never even know. I could have been just like Victoria, Taylor, and all those other girls Ben slept around with. I feel awful for thinking like that, but the other night I had a weird dream. I dreamt that I lost my faith, similar to how Ben had mentioned he lost his. And he was the only other person in my dream. It was just us and no one else. We were both free to do whatever we wanted and we enjoyed each other's company. And towards the end of the dream, we kissed. We kissed and held each other for as long as the dream had lasted. I felt happy and safe being with him, and he was happy too. That was all I remembered about my dream before it ended. What's wrong with me? Do I actually like Ben? I feel awkward writing about this. I feel even worse for dreaming about something like that too. It feels like I've sinned for thinking of Ben like that. What's wrong with me? Thankfully, no one else will ever read my diary. As for Ben, I just don't know if I'm ready to forgive him yet.

Maybe I was too quick to judge him yesterday though. What if Nathan really was lying about all that stuff that he said? The way he attacked Ben in the hallway yesterday. Maybe he did what he did yesterday to get back at Ben. By why would he involve me in it as well? Was it because I didn't agree to go to Homecoming with him? I was hoping that life would get better starting this week, but so far it's proven to be strange if anything.

* * *

 

As Kate sat at her desk and looked at everything she wrote into her diary, she heard a knock on her door. She quickly put her diary back into her desk drawer and turned her attention to whoever was outside her room.

"Who is it?" Kate asked.

"Kate, its Max. Can I come in?" Max asked.

"The doors unlocked, Max. You can come in." She replied politely.

"Thanks, Kate." Max said as she slowly opened the door. "Have you got a second to talk?"

"Sure, I just finished up all my homework anyway." Kate answered happily. "What did you want to talk about?"

Max sat down on Kate's bed right next to her and spoke softly to ask Kate a question. "I just wanted to know if everything was alright last night. I heard you crying in here after I came back from looking for my camera with Warren. And you said that you were with Ben, earlier tonight."

Kate looked at Max, with a blank expression.

"Oh, that. I was just crying over something stupid to be honest." Kate explained as she walked over her bed to sit down with Max.

"Kate, this probably shouldn't leave our conversation, but I'm kind of worried about Ben."

"Really? Why?"

"Well today in class, Nathan was giving him a hard time."

"What else is new about Nathan?" Kate said as she rolled her eyes.

"No, this is different. He kept talking about you in front of Ben to try to piss him off. What's even worse is that Ben told Nathan he was going to kill him." She explained.

"Is that why you asked David that question today? Oh, Max, I feel so terrible now." Kate lamented as she looked down at the floor, holding her head in her hands.

"Terrible about what, Kate?"

"Last night when I was with Ben, we went to his room to hang out. And then Nathan came in and started telling me that Ben only wanted to have sex with me. I actually believed him because the entire football was there too and the things that Ben told me the other day and..."

"It's alright, Kate. Just slow down."

"Max, this is all my fault. I listened to Nathan instead of taking Ben's side. I let Nathan Prescott win and Ben probably hates me now."

"Hey, you know that's not true. Ben's been a good friend to you. And you've been one to him. I doubt that a single thing Nathan told you was true. I heard those two fighting when I walked into class today and it's not like them to do that at all. The other week, they were literally the dynamic duo of Blackwell."

"You have a good point. I feel like I should talk to Ben but I don't know if he'll want to see me. Last night after all those things Nathan said, I yelled at Ben and I even knocked him down. He's probably still mad at me."

"That's not true, Kate. Before Ben made that threat to Nathan today in class, he said that he would make sure he would never hurt you, me, or anyone else ever again. He still cares about you Kate."

"He really said that? Oh thank you so much, Max." Kate said, sounding hopeful as she leaned over to hug Max. "I'll go talk to Ben. I just hope he'll listen to me."

"Ben's listened to you before. I'm sure he'll be willing to listen this time too." Max said.

* * *

 

Ben was taking deep breaths as he sat on the edge of his bed. He was mentally preparing himself for what he was about to do. He was going to sneak into Nathan's room to find anything that could help him, Chloe, and Max find out what happened to Kate the night of the party and where Rachel Amber might have been. He then got up from his bed and walked over to the door, leaving his room. Seeing that nobody was present in the hallway, he had the perfect opportunity to sneak into Nathan's room. It was right next door to Ben's room and even if he didn't live on this floor of the dorm, there was the message on Nathan's slate reading, "THE PRESCOTTS RULE THIS TOWN!" in all capital letters, which gave it away. As Ben tried turning the doorknob to Nathan's room, he noticed that it was locked. Looking both ways down the hallway to make sure no one was watching him. He took a step back, lifted up one of his crutches and used its top end to try and break the lock. He hit the crutch against the doorknob three times and finally had success after the third hit. He checked his surroundings one last time before turning the knob and entering Nathan's room.

Ben was welcomed by some rather peculiar contents of Nathan's room. There was a broken lamp, which had to be the one that Chloe mentioned when she escaped from Nathan. On his desk sat an expensive monochrome camera next to several types of prescription pills and an empty bottle of champagne. Hanging from the ceiling of the room was a movie projector which, played footage of an old film in black and white. As he looked to his right, he saw a black and white poster of a woman who appeared to be topless and tied-up.

'So, this must be Nathan's work he wasn't so confident about sharing. Hopefully his model consented to doing this pic.' He thought as he found the poster to be disturbing and not what he imagined Nathan's style to be. Ben pulled out his phone and speed dialed Chloe so she could tell him what exactly he was supposed to be looking for in this room.

"Yo?" Chloe said as she answered the call.

"Chloe, it's me. I'm in Nathan's room."

"You are? Sweet! How did you even get in?" She replied.

"I broke the lock using my crutch." He explained.

"You badass. What else can you do? Anyway, where is that little prick anyway? I'm surprised he's not holed up in his room like the loser he is." Chloe asked.

"If I'm not mistaken, he's at a five restaurant right now expecting his date, Kate, to show up at any moment. Can you believe that guy?" Ben said sounding disgusted.

"Let's just focus on the mission right now, big guy."

"Right. What is it that I'm looking for in here exactly?"

"You're gonna wanna see if he has a phone or anything at all with clues. I'd start with checking his computer if anything."

"Got it! I'll call you back when I find something." Ben then hung up the phone and continued his search.

As he made his way over to Nathan's computer, he exited out of sleep mode and searched through each of the tabs open on his browser. There were emails he received from his father, his sister, and Principal Wells along with one that he sent to Victoria, expressing his frustration at how Ben cancelled the End of the World Party. Two other tabs showed one for an online drugstore website with an order of 100 diet pills and the other tab showing Kate's video. This only reminded Ben why he hated Nathan and the reason he was going to find out what really happened to Kate that night. He was unable to find anything else that would help, so he stopped his search and got off the computer, putting it back on sleep mode to cover his tracks.

Ben searched through some of Nathan's drawers to find any clues. In one drawer he found a note that Chloe had written to Nathan which read: Hey Asshole, we need to talk or I'm gonna tell everybody what you did and you're going to pay motherfucker. The note was obviously written to Nathan after he drugged Chloe and it seemed just like something she would write too. What Ben saw underneath the ominous note was a photograph that only shocked him.

It was a photo of Chloe lying on the floor of Nathan's room in a fetal position. Her eyes were wide open but she looked completely lifeless. This had to have been when she was drugged, it could have only explained the state she appeared to be in when the picture was taken. Ben looked even closely at the picture and could see a shadow that stood over Chloe, no doubt that it was Nathan who took the picture.

Before Ben was about to give up on the search, he saw that there were several markings on the floor, though he wasn't sure why they were even there. Though he saw that the couch was right near the scratch marks and realized that the couch could have been dragged. But why? Knowing that these couches the school provided students with could be moved and curious to know what was behind it, Ben had grabbed it from one end and pulled out using one hand. Looking at the back of the couch, he saw that there was a plastic bag taped to it.

"Score!" Ben said as he took the plastic bag containing the phone, putting it into his pocket. He then pushed the couch back into its original place and left the room, having what he needed and hoping he didn't leave any clues that would give away his presence when Nathan came back.

Ben was now back in his own room and texted Chloe, informing her that he found the evidence. He was still feeling tense about how he broke into Nathan's room like that. He would eventually know that someone went into his room and searched through his things. The broken lock would give it away more than anything else. Ben was telling himself to stop worrying about it though. He felt that he needed something to take his mind off all this. After how this week had been going so far for him, he felt that watching a movie would help him relax if anything. He walked over to his Playstation 3 and pressed the power button to turn it on. As he searched for a DVD from his shelf, he decided to watch The Empire Strikes Back. While he wasn't a big Star Wars fan compared to most people like Warren, it was just one of his favorite movies in general. Just before he could take the DVD out of the case, he heard a few soft knocks on his door. This made Ben slightly jump and question who it could have Ben. What if it was Nathan or someone who saw him enter or leave his room? He wasn't sure exactly sure how he was going to explain things.

Hearing the person behind the door knock again, Ben knew that he had to face this person, so he spoke out in a confident voice to address whoever it could have been. "Come in!" He said.

The door slowly opened and Ben stood his ground read to find out who it was. He was even ready to face them, if need be. But he realized that he didn't have anything to be so worked up about, as the person standing at the doorway was Kate.

"Hi, Ben." Kate said nervously. She had both of her hands clasped and looked down at her feet.

"Oh! Hey, Kate." Ben said in very similar tone. He wasn't exactly sure why the girl was back in his room again after what happened the last time she was here.

"I was hoping I could talk to you if you're not busy. Can I come in please?" She said.

"Yeah, make yourself comfortable." He told her. She walked into the room and closed the door behind her, but was still standing in the same position. This was starting to make Ben a little uncomfotable. "I was just about to watch a movie but I've got time to talk. What's up?"

"I... I just wanted to... apologize to you after how I reacted last night. I was wrong to have made an assumption about you after what Nathan said and I should have let you explain yourself like you tried to. And I'm sorry that I avoided you in the hallway today." Kate said with the utmost sound of remorse in her voice.

Ben was completely frozen by what Kate had just said. He thought that he was going to have to be the one to apologize to her. He thought he would have to ask her to forgive him a million times after how badly she had been hurt last night. But instead, here she was, in his own room giving him an apology that he felt that he didn't even deserve.

"Do you... forgive me?" She asked.

"Yes, I do." He replied softly. "But honestly, Kate, I feel like I should be the one asking you to forgive me."

"No, Ben. I believe that Nathan humiliated you in front of your whole team yesterday because he wanted to hurt both of us. And I should have known better to trust you more after everything you did for me." She explained. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure. What's on your mind?" He asked.

She then lifted up her head to face him before asking her question. "Why did you do all of those things for me last week. Standing up to David, Victoria, and Nathan, helping me on the roof, visiting me at the hospital, even throwing the rally for me. You didn't owe me a single thing before I met you but you still wanted to help me. Was it because you felt bad for me?"

"Kate, I have my reasons for why I did so much for you. And I swear that I'm going to be completely honest with you." Ben answered truthfully.

"I trust you Ben. I only want to know so I can hear your side as to why you helped me. I'm still bothered by everything Nathan said about you and I'm just seeking some closure is all. So I can finally move past it." She stated.

"Kate, the reason I helped you is because... I could relate to everything you were going through." Ben said.

"Oh, I didn't know that. We're you really bullied just like me too? Was that the reason behind why you lost your faith? She questioned.

"No, it wasn't me. It was someone else. Someone I was... very close with." Ben said softly. He was digging into one of his desk drawers while he was still talking to her. "But first, I just want to say that I owe you an apology."

Kate looked confused. "An apology? For what exactly? Is this still about what happened last night with..."

"No, it's not that. It's from last week. When I was up on the roof with you, I lied to you that I was an only child. I only did it because I was afraid I would get too emotional when your life was at risk and more important at the time." Ben explained. He pulled out a small orange envelope and walked over to Kate to hand it to her. He sat down at his couch while she was still standing. "You can open it if you want." He said.

Kate opened the envelope and placed her hand inside to find a photograph, she didn't see the actual picture at first when she pulled it out of the envelope. She was looking at the rear side of it which had writing in Marker that read, Ronnie and Me, 2003.

As Kate flipped over the photo, she saw the actual picture itself. It showed two boys standing next to each other and smiling. There was an older boy in the picture who had looked very much like Ben but had longer hair grown out than his. He was wearing a football uniform similar to the one that she saw Ben wear in his Facebook photos. She was eventually able to put two and two together and realize that this was a Blackwell Bigfoots football uniform. Whoever this boy was, he attended the same school as them. Kate then gazed over to the younger boy in the photo who looked like he could have been eight or nine year old. He was wearing a t-shirt and shorts and had a big bright smile similar to Ben's. The only thing was that, it was Ben. She couldn't help but admire how adorable he looked in that photo. But why exactly was Ben showing her this?

"Is that you in this picture?" Kate asked curiously.

"Yeah, that's me." Ben said with a forced smile on his face. He then looked down at the floor again.

Kate picked up on Ben's body language and could tell he looked different than usual. She decided to compliment Ben in the photo and casually ask who the older boy next to him was. "You were so cute! Who's the one next to you?"

"That right there is... was my older brother. His name was Ronnie." Ben shared.

Kate studied the picture once more and began to wonder what could have happened to this boy and why Ben never mentioned him. Plus, why did he lie to her that he was an only child? Did the two of them have a bad history growing up together?

"We're you two close?" She asked with interest.

"Yeah, we really were." He replied. "He was my best friend growing up. We were practically inseparable and we could always keep secrets between each other that no one else would have to know about."

"That sounds just like me and my sisters." She said. "So what happened? How come you never mentioned him before?"

"Because it was hard to?" Ben said. He took a deep breath before he continued. "You see, when my parents got the divorce, they both kept one of us. My mom kept me, which was why I moved to San Francisco with her, and my Dad got Ronnie which explains why he went to Blackwell."

"Did you two stay in touch, even when you were both far away from each other?"

"We did, for a while?"

"What do you mean by that?" Kate asked with concern.

"Remember how I said that we always shared secrets with each other and no one else?"

"Yes."

"Well, one year after that picture was taken, Ronnie shared one of his secrets with me. He was getting older and he realized that he was... different than most of the boys at school. He told me that he realized that he liked another boy and had... feelings for him." Ben said, his voice was beginning to get heavy after he finished his last sentence.

"Ben, are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." He replied. "Anyway, when Ronnie learned that about himself, he decided that he was going to admit it to the boy he liked, no matter what that boy thought about him. And when he did, it completely backfired and people made his life hell."

"Oh my goodness, that's horrible." Kate said in shock.

"And it only got worse. For the next month, all these assholes would bully my own brother and call him a 'fag' or 'homo' when they saw him in the halls. Even his own friends on the football team were against him. No one helped him and he just... couldn't take it anymore."

"Ben, it's okay. You don't have to..."

"No, Kate. I meant to tell you this when you asked why I stopped believing. And this is why." He said in a melancholy tone. "So one night, Ronnie called me on the phone. He told me that he would always love me and to be strong no matter what. Later that night, my mom and I got a call from my dad. He told us that he found Ronnie passed out on the bathroom floor with an empty bottle of prescription pills next to him. My dad called 911 and by the time an ambulance showed up to the house... they we're too late." Ben told her with tears in his eyes.

Kate herself thought that she was going to cry too. She was always a sensitive person in general, but right now, she felt even worse. She had always remembered the teachings her parents shared with her about how homosexuality was a sin and that anyone who portrayed the image of being gay or a lesbian was destined to burn in hell. But that didn't even matter right now. The boy she only met just a week ago, who she considered her friend, had lost his older brother at such a young age. He was Ben's best friend and role model, and for almost ten years of his life, he dealt with the pain of never being able to see him again. It only made Kate feel even worse for trying to take her own life. She couldn't even imagine how much Lynn and Emma would have been grieving had she actually jumped.

"That's why I wanted to help you so bad, Kate. Because seeing people treat you like shit reminded me of those... fucking assholes that hurt my brother. And when I saw you on the roof, It only reminded me of Ronnie when he..."

Ben was unable to say his last few words, he felt weak trying to continue what he needed to tell Kate. To get her to understand his loss, which motivated him to fight for her. As he was reminded of the horrible past, he was caught off guard by what happened next. Kate had knelt down to the floor to look at Ben while he still sat on the couch. She grabbed both of his hands and held them up as she looked at him. This caused Ben to look up at her, as his teary brown eyes met her kind sympathetic hazel eyes.

"I'm so sorry Ben. You don't have to say anything else. You lost one of the most important and influential people in your life and you did nothing to deserve that." Kate said. She then wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a hug. "Despite what happened to your brother, you still showed everybody that you didn't let it stop you from becoming the strong person you are today. I know that's true because it's why you saved my life." Kate didn't want to let go of Ben. She knew that this was what he needed after what he just told her. It was no surprise that he never told people about this either. He had so much trouble just trying to tell Kate without choking up.

"Thanks, Kate. I appreciate you listening. And being my shoulder to cry on too." Ben said as he sniffed and was still trapped in Kate's hug. "He was only sixteen when he died, you know. I kept thinking that each year, it would be easier for me to cope with losing him, but it only gets harder. Especially now, knowing that I'm older than he was. I just miss him so much."

"I understand. I know what my religion says about being gay, but all I can say is that Ronnie is up in Heaven watching you do all of these great things."

"I feel like you always know the right thing to say. Thank you." He said as he wiped away his tears.

"You're welcome." Kate replied. She then handed the photo back to Ben, who stared it one more time before he put it back in the envelope. "You said that you were going to watch a movie before I came in. Do you mind if I joined you?" She asked coyly.

"Are you kidding? I'd be insulted if you didn't." He said in a more upbeat tone.

"Okay, thank you. So what are we watching?" Kate asked excitedly.

"Ever heard of the Empire Strikes Back? It's one of the Star Wars movies."

"I can't say I have. To be honest, I haven't seen any of those movies before." She admitted.

"What? Never? Now that means we have to watch A New Hope first." He said playfully.

"Really? Do we have to?" Kate questioned.

"You bet! The movies make up a trilogy, so it'll only make since if we watch them in the correct order." He explained.

"Okay. I'll put in the movie so you don't have to get up." She said as she stood up and walked over to the PS3.

"Sure thing, I'll just a couple bags of chips for us snack on during the movie." Ben said as he reached for his secret snack stash, which he had behind his couch, grabbing several snack sized bags of Doritos, Lays, Frito's, and Cheetos, and two water bottles. He saw Kate, studying the case of the DVD after she placed it into the PS3.

"Everything, okay over there?" He asked.

"Um, yes. I was just checking to see what the movie was rated that's all." She said shyly.

"Pretty sure it was PG last time I checked. It's nothing too intense, I promise." Ben said. He only smiled when hearing Kate say this. It was moments like this that made Ben think she was the cutest and most innocent girl he had ever met at Blackwell.

"Well, you probably know these movies better than I do anyway." Kate replied as she walked over to the door to flick off the light switch. She walked back to the couch sitting, on the other end opposite from Ben, grabbing a bag of Doritos and a water bottle that sat on the middle seat.

"Thanks for letting me join you." She said to Ben.

"No problem! Thanks for stopping by." He replied.

Ben then selected the option to play the movie using his controller. The two both began to glow with excitement as they saw the iconic opening title sequence, complete with the classic theme by John Williams.

* * *

 

Once the film had ended and the credits began to roll, Ben glanced over at Kate, who seemed to have enjoyed the movie from the beginning to the end.

"So, what did you think?" Ben asked.

"It was... amazing. That was far from what I was expecting." Kate said. "And you said that there's two more of these?"

"That's right. Which means that now you're ready to watch Empire Strikes Back, followed by The Return of the Jedi."

Kate yawned and checked the time on her phone before she spoke again. "Well, it is getting late now. And curfew is starting in a few minutes. Maybe we should watch the next one another time."

"Sounds like a plan to me. See ya, Kate!" Ben said.

"Goodbye, Ben. Enjoy the rest of your night." Kate said as she walked towards the door. She flicked the light switch back on and left the room.

"You too." He replied.

Kate left the room feeling so glad that her friendship between her and Ben had successfully reconciled. She really did enjoy watching a movie with him, even if she did feel embarrassed by asking him a question about what was happening every ten minutes. She wasn't very big into sci-fi or action films for starters, compared to the Disney movies she loved so much. The past two hours that they spent hanging out together in Ben's room felt like just the first of the many memories they would make together at Blackwell. As she walked down the hallway, she thought to herself that all she wanted was for no one else to get in the way of their friendship. Especially, Nathan Prescott. And speak of the devil, he happened to walk right around the corner and was now in the same hallway as Kate. He had his hair combed back and wore a black tie with his usual white dress shirt underneath his red jacket that he was always wearing. It was his spiffy appearance that reminded Kate about the dinner reservation he made for the two of them to his family's restaurant. She remembered this, but there was no way in hell that she was going to even go on a date with him, let alone sit at the same table as him after everything he did to her and Ben. Nathan looked upset about something and was most likely going to his room which she passed by. Kate just tried her best to avoid eye contact with him and walked closer to the other side of the wall, hoping that he wouldn't try to approach her. She had no luck as the boy questioned her as soon as he got closer to her.

"What the fuck are you doing in my dorm?" Nathan shouted.

"I was just leaving. And it's not your dorm. Other people live here too." Kate said in her most confident voice.

"You getting smart with me, bitch? Because this dorm has my name on it." Nathan said as he grabbed Kate's arm. "I said what are doing here? You were with Ben again weren't you?"

"It's none of your business Nathan. Now please let go of me..."

"Shut up!" Nathan barked as he pushed Kate up against the wall with enough force.

Kate had winced as she felt the back of her head hit the wall. She was now face to face with Nathan, who pressed both of her arms against the wall too, making sure that she couldn't try anything.

"You think you're so pure and above everybody don't you, Kate? Is that why you thought you could stand me up at my family's own restaurant tonight and make me look like an ass in front of everybody? You think you're better than everyone else here just because you believe in God and preach about abstinence. You know that's all bullshit right? I mean, why try to act all sweet and innocent so you can end up in some little paradise when you die, while you could be out there doing whatever the fuck you want right now?" He argued angrily.

As Nathan had interrogated her, Kate had looked at his face in fear and was disturbed by the state he was in. His eyes were bloodshot from the fury he was displaying. His breath also reeked of alcohol and he did seem drunk from how he was swaying and speaking. She also noticed that he had a white substance underneath one of his nostrils. Kate had never seen it in her life to tell that this was cocaine and the drug only contributed more to his rage. She was now fearing for her life as the boy who had her pinned against the wall was drunk, high, and extremely enraged.

"Nathan please, you're hurting me." Kate said in a more scared voice as she acknowledged that he had a tight grip on both of her arms.

"You know something, Kate? I kind of lied to you about Ben last night." He said ignoring her pleas. "But then I actually, thought about why he cares about you so much. You know what I think?"

"What?" Kate asked in a very nervous voice.

"Considering the fact that he's the pretty boy type, always keeps his body in good shape, and studies Drama. I think that Ben only wants to spend time with you because by hanging out with a virgin like you, he won't have to admit to anybody that he's really just a queer and he doesn't have to worry about coming out to everyone. Just like his older brother." He stated.

Kate only looked at Nathan in shock after what he just theorized. How did he even know about this in the first place?

"Oh yeah. I know all about that. My sister attended school here with his brother. It probably just runs in his family. I think that's why you need to be with a real man like me, Kate."

Not being able to do anything to fight back, Kate had no choice but to take a dirty approach and spit right in Nathan's face. "Leave Ben's brother out of this!" She yelled.

Nathan took one of his hands and slapped Kate across her face, causing her to let out a faint scream. "Now that wasn't very nice. I'm gonna have to teach you some manners. And your little God isn't gonna save you either." He said with a threatening voice as he lightly tugged on the golden cross on Kate's necklace. He began to take his hand, rushing it over Kate's breasts.

"Nathan, stop it! This is sinful." Kate said as she began to cry in fear of what Nathan was about to do.

"Like I give a fuck." He snapped. "My family owns this school and I can do whatever I want. And you need to learn your place, one way or another." He said as he began tugging at Kate's blouse in his state of intoxication.

As Kate felt the first few of her top buttons begin to snap, she began to close her eyes, feeling tears escape past her shut eyelids and fearing what was going happen to her. She never did anything to Nathan to deserve this and she would never wish this fate upon any of her enemies. She felt helpless as the boy overpowered her against the wall and was still attempting to unbutton her blouse by force with whatever strength he had. But suddenly, she could no longer feel the tugging of her blouse anymore as all she heard was the sound of a loud slam. It was so loud that it felt like whatever made the noise happened right in front of her. Still afraid to open her eyes, she only heard the sound of someone's voice that she was hoping to hear right now.

"Kate, are you alright?" She knew that this was Ben, which caused her to open her eyes and see him standing right in front of her. She was still too shaken up to say anything and only nodded her head to answer his question.

Seeing how he was standing, she had realized that Ben had arrived before things got any worse than it did in the hallway and he used the top end of his crutch to hit Nathan against the face. She could see Nathan lying face down against the floor. But he was beginning to get up.

"You broke my nose!" Nathan shouted as he could see blood on his fingers from where he just touched his face. "You are so fucking dead, Ferris!" He yelled out as he reached into one of his jacket pockets.

"Ben look out!" Kate screamed as she Nathan pull out the shining gun.

With quick reaction time, Ben used the bottom of his crutch and swung it violently at Nathan's wrist, causing him to let out a gasp of pain and the gun to fly out of his hand. The gun had built up so much momentum, that it slid across the hallway floor like a hockey puck and ended up getting stuck underneath the radiator at the end of the hall. No one even noticed this. Especially Ben, who had his attention on Nathan.

As Nathan tried to crawl away, he was unsuccessful as Ben grabbed him by his ankle and pulled him back towards him. Ben had now knelt down and placed all of his weight on Nathan, with his good knee on the kid's chest and his left hand wrapped around his throat.

"Get off me, bro!" Nathan demanded at Ben.

"Shut up and take your beating like a man!" Ben shouted in complete anger. "I'm not your bro!"

Kate was sitting against the wall, still scared and her eyeliner running from her tears. She began to look at the sight of Nathan who was pinned down by Ben, unsure of what would happen next.

"I thought you were my friend, Nathan. I trusted you. Treated you like a brother." Ben shouted. He then punched Nathan in the face as hard as he could with his right hand. "But all you ever did was hurt my other friends behind my back." He said punching him again.

"Remember what you did to Chloe?" He questioned him, followed by another punch to the face.

"Or Max?" A punch to his broken nose. This one making Nathan scream in pain.

"Or how about Warren?" A punch straight to his eye.

"And even Kate!" A punch to his mouth along with several more that followed.

"I wanna know something, Nathan. Did you dose Kate at that party?" He said while continuing to bash his face in. "Did you?"

Kate was completely disturbed by how Ben was taking this situation into his own hands. Still sitting against the wall, she placed her face into her arms, but still had to hear Ben shouting and Nathan begging for his life.

"Answer me you fuck!" Ben yelled.

"Yes!" Nathan whined.

"What? What did you say?" He questioned.

"Yes! I did it. I dosed her, okay? Just please stop." Nathan pleaded. He wanted to be spared from how much pain he was receiving. But now that Ben knew the truth, he wasn't going to hold back or show any mercy. Especially thinking back to that night when he saw Kate and now realized that he could have prevented Nathan from even talking to her that night.

"YOU... FUCKING... ASS...HOLE!" Ben shouted as he delivered several sharp blows to Nathan's face. He actually heard a cracking sound shortly after the last punch. He wasn't sure if he had broken a bone in his hand from hitting Nathan so hard, but that didn't matter. At this very moment, he was going to make sure Kate got justice. But was this really the right way to do so?

Ben could hear Nathan faintly crying to himself. He even got a good glimpse of the boy's bloodied face that he created. "Stop... I'm... sorry." Those were the only words Nathan could get out of his mouth.

"No. You're not sorry for what you did." Ben said as he looked down at him. "But you're about to be."

Ben took both of his hands and placed them around Nathan's neck, beginning to slowly strangle him. He gritted his teeth as he looked at the face of the guy who caused so much pain to him and his friends. He began applying more force to his grip on Nathan's throat and could even see that underneath all the blood, his face was starting to turn purple. Nathan was trying so hard to breathe as his life was now depending on it but before he even lost consciousness, the tight grip of his neck was released. Ben felt two sets of arms pull him off of Nathan. As he fell on his back, he saw Zach and Hayden standing above him.

"It's not worth it, Ben. He's had enough." Zach said as she shook his head.

Ben came to the realization of what he had just done as he sat up and saw Nathan sprawled on the floor with his bloody face. Everyone was now out of their rooms to see what all of the noise was about. But why couldn't they do that when Kate was in trouble in the first place? He looked around and saw that one guy had their phone out to record the entire thing.

"Zach, you don't understand. Nathan, he..."

"It's alright, dude. I heard the whole thing. We all did."

"Yeah, dosing someone at a party? That's real low, Nate. Even for you." Hayden commented.

"He's... crady guysh. He's... fugging crady." Nathan mumbled while he was still on the floor."

'Wait, where's Kate?' Ben questioned in his mind.

As Ben got up and found both of his crutches to help him stand. He turned around to see Kate, who was still crouched against the wall with her face buried in her arms. He began to walk over to her and got down on his knees to console her.

"Kate?" Ben spoke softly as he reached a hand out to her.

"No!" Kate shouted as she swung her arms in defense after feeling the hand touch her.

"Kate! Kate, it's me. It's Ben." He said.

She stopped hitting him to see the face of the boy who saved her once again. All she could do was just hug him and not let go. "Oh, Ben." Kate sniffed. "He... He was going to..."

"Shh, it's okay. I'm here for you now. And I always will be." He reassured her as he hugged her back.

The two stayed there in that same position for as long as they could. They we're completely unaware of everyone else in the hallway who were still surprised by what they witnessed Ben just do and wondering what to do with Nathan.

* * *

 

Ben had accompanied Kate on her way back to her room. She had asked him to do so as it only made her feel safer. As they were now at her door, Kate opened it using her room key and walked in with Ben, following her in. She flicked on the light switch and closed the door behind Ben before walking over to her couch.

"You can sit here if you'd like." She said as she moved her books which were on the couch.

"Thanks." He replied, moving over to the couch to take a seat. "How are you feeling?"

"Better, now that we're in here. To be honest, I still feel a little shaken up about what happened. Thank you for being there for me." Kate said.

"It's what friends do, Kate. And besides, I feel a lot better knowing that you're safe right now. I'm just glad that I decided to come out of my room as soon as I heard shouting in the hall."

"Ben, your hand!" Kate stated.

"What about it?" He asked.

"It's bleeding." She pointed out. Ben looked at his right hand to see that he had blood on his knuckles. He wasn't sure if this was his own blood or Nathan's. "We should get that cleaned up." Kate suggested.

"It's fine, Kate. It's probably just a scrape."

"Don't be ridiculous. You should really get that taken care of before it gets infected. Here, I have a first-aid kit with me." She reached into her closet, grabbing the first-aid kit next to her shower supplies and walked over to Ben. As she knelt down and placed the kit on the floor next to her, she opened it up and took out a disinfectant wipe. She took Ben's hand and started cleaning the blood off his knuckles.

"So, about what happened with Nathan... I know that you'd probably prefer not to talk about it, but I think we should tell Principal Wells tomorrow. Something like that, just can't go unnoticed." Ben suggested

"Are you sure, Ben? The last time I went to a faculty member for help was when I told Mr. Jefferson about my video, and he didn't believe me." Kate expressed with concern.

"Yeah, I remember that too. But it'll be different this time, because I'll be there with you. I guess what I'm trying to say is, do you want to go to the Principal's office together tomorrow morning? You know, before classes start?"

Kate looked up at Ben after she finished wrapping up his hand with a bandage. "Yes, I'd like that." She said sounding more comfortable. "I'm all done with your hand."

"Thanks, Doctor Marsh." Ben said jokingly. "I'm guessing I'm going to have to pay some sort of copay for this now."

"Lucky for you, I only have my patients pay me with hugs." Kate teased as she stood up to hug Ben. This was now the third time this night that she had hugged him. She must have felt so grateful that he was always there for her.

Kate then walked over to her closet again, putting her first aid kit back where it was and turning on a lamp that was close to her.

"I think I'm going to get ready to go to bed now if you don't mind. I'm going to change into my sleepwear." She told Ben, hinting to him that she wanted some privacy to change.

"I take it that's my cue to leave. I'll see you tomorrow, then." Ben said as he got up and began to walk to the door.

"Could you hit the light on your way out please?" She said.

"Sure thing." He replied. He flicked the light switch and saw that the only light in the room was coming from the lamp.

"Actually, Ben?" Kate called out after she kicked off her shoes and took off her cardigan.

Before he opened the door, Ben turned around to see Kate's worried face illuminating from the light of the lamp. "What's up?" He asked.

"Um, will you stay here with me for the night? Please?" She asked timidly.

Ben could tell that she still felt scared being in her room by herself after what she had experienced. He gave her a reassuring smile as he looked at her and then gave her an answer. "Yes, I will." He said.

"Thank you." Kate replied as she smiled back. "I'm going to go take a quick shower. I'll be right back though." She had taken off both of her socks and placed her golden cross on her desk before grabbing her shower supplies and walking out of the door.

Kate had no idea that Ben had watched her while she took off her cross. He wasn't trying to peek at her undressing or anything. He just thought back to that hot August day when he had saw her for the first time and she was wearing that cross. At that time, Kate was only a face that Ben couldn't even match a name to. If someone had traveled back in time that day and told Ben that that was the girl whose life he would save and even share one of his deepest secrets with one day, he wouldn't know what to think of it. It was now the middle of October and already, he had become closer with Kate in a just a week than he did with most of the other girls he had met at Blackwell. Sure, Ben wasn't as acquainted with Kate as he was with Dana or even Chloe, but he was starting to realize that it was moments like this that brought the two of them together. After about fifteen minutes, Ben heard the door open and saw Kate, wearing her pajamas and had her hair worn down which still looked damp from the shower water.

"I'm back." She said smiling at Ben who was still sitting on the couch.

"Wow!" Ben said louder than he had wanted too.

"What's wrong?" Kate asked with wonder.

"Uh, nothing. It's just that I've never seen you with your hair down before." Ben admitted. He had a bashful smile on his face when he said that and even Kate noticed this. "I know it's because your hair is wet, but you should really consider wearing it down in class one day."

"Oh, thank you, Ben. I actually never thought about it before since I'm so used to wearing my hair in my bun as usual." Kate said. "After we watched that movie tonight, I had an idea of trying to wear my hair in the style of Princess Leia's at some point." She shared.

"Well, if you ask me, I think you'd look great either way." Ben stated. He then noticed that Kate began to blush after hearing his compliment.

"I bet you say to every girl." Kate replied as she giggled.

"To be honest, I can't remember the last time I have told someone that." He said to flatter her.

Kate smiled and walked over to her bed. she took one of the spare blankets off of the bed and handed it to Ben.

"Thanks!" Ben said as he looked at the pink blanket and began to unfold it and place it over himself.

"You're welcome. I thought you could use it because it gets kind of chilly in here." Kate said as she dragged a chair over and placed one of her pillows on the seat for Ben to rest his leg on. Kate then climbed up on her bed and buried herself underneath her covers. She looked up at her ceiling before speaking again. "I'm glad that I got to meet you, Ben. The real you." She said.

"Um, thanks." Ben said as he looked her.

"I meant that in a good way." She said. "Before meeting you, I would always see you around Blackwell with some of the other football players and even the Vortex Club members and I always thought you were just like them. But that isn't true at all. Getting to know the real Ben Ferris was definitely worth it."

"That means a lot, Kate. I really enjoy spending time with you." Ben told her.

"Me too." Kate replied happily. "Good night!"

"Night." Ben said. He turned his head and looked over at Kate's bed to see that she was lying on her side and already fast asleep. She looked so peaceful and at ease. She was probably sleeping like this, despite what she had experienced earlier, most likely because Ben was in the room with her in case anything happened in the middle of the night.

'Dana has Trevor. Zach has Juliet. Warren has Max... I think. It's hard to say what's going on between those two. What if I have Kate, and I just don't even know it right now?' Ben thought to himself. He looked over once more to Kate sleeping and could see that she had a small smile on her face. This time, he could hear her lightly snoring in her sleep too. 'Only time will tell, Ben. Only time will tell.' Ben thought. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes to catch up on some well-deserved sleep.


	13. With Friends Like These

A constant beeping sound was being made in Kate's dorm room, which woke up Ben and caused him to look around. He saw that he was still sitting on Kate's couch and wrapped up in her pink blanket that she gave him last night. Still trying to find out where the sound was coming from, he looked to his left to see that Kate was reaching a hand out to turn off her alarm clock. After she hit the snooze button and the noise had come to an end, Kate, who was half-awake, looked over at Ben and tried her best to smile at him.

"Good morning!" Kate said while letting out a yawn.

Ben could see how tired Kate still looked, along with her messy long hair which he had never seen before. He tried his best not to laugh at this weary sight of her that he had never seen, but still had a smile on his face. "Morning!" he replied happily to Kate.

"Sorry if my alarm woke you. I tend to get up earlier than most people." She mentioned.

"Nothing wrong that. Early to bed, early to rise." He stated.

As Kate got out of her bed, she walked over to her dresser which had Alice's cage sitting on top of it. She opened it up and filled up her pet rabbit's bowl with food to last her for the entire day. Ben observed Kate doing this while he still sat on the couch and pulled the blanket off him.

"Cute bunny." Ben commented while looking at the cage.

"Oh, thanks. This is my pet rabbit, Alice. I've had her for two years now." Kate said.

"Well, I'm sure she must really love having you as a mommy if you get up this early to feed her." Ben said.

"Thank you, Ben." Kate said as she smiled at his compliment. "Do you have any pets?" She asked.

"Yeah, my mom and I have a dog back in San Francisco." Ben replied.

"Aw, what kind of dog?" She asked with cheer in her voice.

"A Golden Retriever. Her name's Harley and she just turned five. She mostly keeps my mom company at home now that I'm in a completely different state." Ben said.

"I bet they both miss you right now." Kate mentioned.

"They sure do. As lame as it sounds, I face time both my mom and Harley at least once a week." Ben admitted as he chuckled.

"I don't think it's lame at all." Kate replied.

"Really?" He said.

"Well why would it be? You do it because you love your mother and your dog. You'd be surprised by some of the people on this floor who don't tell their parents they love them before hanging up on the phone. Better yet, you should hear how people like Victoria speaks to her own mother on the phone sometimes." Kate said pointing to the wall behind Ben, reminding him that she lived next door to the snooty rich girl. "That's all I have to say. I'm not really one for gossiping." She added.

"I actually never thought of it that way. I'm glad that there's another person who gets me." He said.

'Wow,  _I really love how he has such a sensitive side to him_.' She thought to herself.

Kate walked over to her desk to pick up her phone and opened it to check for any unread messages, only to find none. This time she felt like checking her social media for the first time in a while. As she opened her Facebook app and scrolled down to see people's posts, she saw one that caught her attention right away. It was a video that was titled,  ** _Ben Vs Nathan_**! along with a description which read:  _ **Dose someone at a Vortex Club party, and you'll end up like Nathan.**_  There was even a thumbnail which showed Ben on Nathan, punching him in the face. To her curiosity, she had to press the play button to see what it was all about. The video was only about thirty seconds long and she turned up the volume to hear what was being said as she watched Ben repeatedly bash Nathan's face in.

"YOU... FUCKING... ASS...HOLE!" She heard Ben scream furiously as he hit the other kid on the floor. She could hear the sounds of other boys in the hallway cheering on Ben and encouraging him to keep hitting Nathan. Finally, she saw Nathan, who appeared to be defenseless and begging Ben to stop, to which Ben began to wrap both his hands around the boy's neck just before the video ended. It was no surprise for someone like Kate to find this video disturbing. She had never seen Ben act so vicious before. And despite what Nathan even tried to do to her last night, seeing him like that actually made her feel bad for him for the first time. This didn't look good, especially since it was now on social media and it would gain the attention of others.

"Um, Ben?" Kate spoke nervously. "You might want to check social media. It's up to you though."

"Why? What is it?" Ben said with concern in his voice.

"Actually, I shouldn't have said anything. It's probably best if you don't check..." Before Kate could finish her sentence, Ben took his eyes off her and looked at his phone that he pulled out of his pocket. In just seconds, she heard Ben's reaction to the first thing he saw.

"You've gotta be shitting me!" Ben said frustratingly.

"I'm sorry, Ben. I know that this isn't how you want people at Blackwell to see you." Kate said with empathy. She could relate to this exactly, like how she attracted unwanted attention with the viral video that involved her.

Ben sighed and placed a hand on his head while looking down at the floor. "This isn't good. If Principal Wells or even worse, Nathan's parents see this I'm screwed." He said.

"I know this looks bad for you, but you should try your best not to think about what other people will think of you. This video shouldn't determine the kind of person you are." Kate said.

"I know Kate. I'm glad you understand. And I'm sorry you had to see what I did to Nathan." He said.

"Ben, you don't have to apologize to me. You protected me and I..."

"No, really." He interrupted. "It's just that... I regret what I did to him. Nate and I were both good friends just a couple weeks ago and last night, I could've killed him if someone didn't stop me. It's just that when I saw you pinned against that wall by him, I needed to stand up for you and help you. Because I could never stand up for myself."

"What do you mean?" Kate asked.

"After my brother had died, it was hard for me and my parents. My mom dealt with it the worst. So, about a year later, she decided to start dating and find someone who could possibly help her cope with losing him." Ben explained. "That was the moment she met this one guy and he moved in with us."

"Was he nice at least?" Kate asked nervously.

"He was anything but nice." Ben replied. "It didn't take long for us to realize he was a loser and a drunk with anger issues who worked a dead-end job at a construction company. He'd always come back home smelling like booze and cigarettes, yelling at me and my mom to take his frustration out on us. But then eventually, he started hitting my mom and she couldn't defend herself."

"Oh my goodness! Ben I..."

"I got tired of seeing my mom get treated like that, so one day I stood up to him and told him that he had no right to put his own hands on my mom like that." He shared.

"That's so brave of you. And you must have been so young when that happened." She stated.

"Yeah, I thought I was brave too. But only for a while, because that was the worst mistake of my life. Ever since that moment I stepped in between them, my mom's loser of a boyfriend would always smack me around for his own amusement and lock me in the closet for hours. And that wasn't the end of it for me. Some nights, when my mom was asleep, he would sneak into my room in the middle of the night. I knew he was in my room cause because he reeked of alcohol. And he would wake me up and force me to let him... do things to me. Things that no kid should ever have to experience. And I could never forget that whenever he left my room, he'd tell me that he would kill my mother and I if we ever told anybody what he was doing to us. I was only ten when all that shit happened to me." He admitted without even looking at Kate.

"I'm so sorry, Ben. Now I understand why you hate bullies so much. You may have never had to face them like I did in school, but you had to deal with one at home." Kate said.

"Yeah. Sometimes, I think that what what I went through was meant to make me stronger. During those times when he would lock me inside the closet, I would only think to myself as I sat in that small cramped space in the dark, not even knowing what time it was. I would tell myself that when I got older, I was going to do anything I could to help people against their own bullies so that they would never have to do it alone." Ben said reassuringly.

"And you have Ben. You stood up for me countless times and made me realize I wasn't alone. And I know that it wasn't because you felt bad for me." She reassured.

"Thanks for understanding, Kate. What Nathan told you the other day was all bullshit. I didn't do all those things for you just to get in bed with you. I did them because I really care about you and I realize that I like having you as a friend and spending time with you. Like when we had our movie night last night."

"I feel the same way about you too, Ben. I'm glad we became friends." Kate shared as she smiled at him. "If you don't mind me asking, what ever happened to him. The man who hurt you and your mother?"

"I never really found out. My mom couldn't take any more of the abuse, so we left and moved in with my aunt. She was always nice to me, and her and my mom always got along together since they were sisters. As for that asshole who brought us so much pain, I heard someone say that he eventually died of alcohol poisoning. I don't know if it was true but I wouldn't complain. Because that only means that he's in hell where he belongs." Ben said. "Sorry if that sounded a bit too harsh."

"It's okay, Ben. You've been through a lot during your childhood and I can't imagine how long those events have stayed with you." Kate said. "I should get ready to take my shower and start the day. We're still going to Principal Wells this morning, right?"

"Of course. I'll head back to my room to freshen up and get dressed. Then we can meet up to head to his office." He said.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Kate replied.

"Great! See you soon." Ben said as he stood up. He made his way over to the door to leave the room. He realized that it was still early and no one on the floor would probably be awake to see him.

* * *

Ben felt uneasy as he entered through the doors of the main building and walked through the hallway. He didn't mind being the center of attention since he was the captain of the Football team and one of the more well-known Vortex Club members. However, he felt different about having a viral video of him beating down the richest kid at Blackwell. It bothered him even more that kids were already respecting Ben for what he did to Nathan. How was it even fair for Ben to be praised in a viral video while Kate was shamed to the point of suicide in hers? He looked down at his right hand where he removed the bandage that Kate wrapped last night. He noticed that his knuckles where a dark red color, meaning that the skin was broken.  _"Did I really hit him that hard last night? Part of me kinda enjoyed it. He deserved it anyway after everything he's done and... No, I can't think like that. I need to show Kate that I'm better than that. If she believes in forgiveness and redemption for everyone than you can too." Ben's_  thoughts came to a complete stop when he heard someone call out his name in the hallway.

"Brother Ben! The man of the hour." It was Luke Parker, who was leaning against the lockers while looking at his phone. "I was just watching the video of you punching the shit out of Nathan's face again. Mad respect, dude!" Luke said with excitement.

"Thanks, Luke. To be honest, I kinda think I went too far though." Ben said remorsefully.

"No way! Word got out fast and everybody knows what he tried to do to Kate last night. You helped her and Prescott totally got what he deserved." He stated.

"I guess you're right. I just hope everybody will get over this video soon." Ben replied, hoping to change the subject.

"What for? This is like Christmas Day for every student at Blackwell. Seeing Nathan Prescott get the shit beat out of him by a cripple." Luke said. "No offense, Ben." He said apologetically.

"None, taken. I gotta go now." He said as he continued to go on his way.

"No problem. Later BB!"

As Ben made his way down the hallway, he saw Kate standing right outside of the main office and holding her books, waiting for Ben. She smiled as she saw Ben slowly approaching her and waved at him.

"Hey." Ben said. "Ready to go in?"

"I'm ready if you are." Kate said nervously.

"Alright! Let's go." Ben said

"Ben?" Kate said shyly.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Thanks again. For coming with me." Kate said more happily.

"No problem. It's what friends do for each other, anyway."

As the two both entered the main office they could see the door to Principal Well's office right in front of them. But before either of them could walk over to the door in time, they were met by a voice that addressed them both.

"Can I help you two?" Asked a middle-aged woman who sat behind a desk next to Ben and Kate.

"Hi, we're here to see Principal Wells." Ben said politely as he smiled at the woman.

"Is he expecting you?" Asked the woman.

"No, but it's something urgent that we need to discuss with him." Kate said.

"Let me see if he's available right now." The woman said as she eyed the two of them. She pressed the button of a speaker and began to speak into it. "Ray, you have two students that would like to see you."

In just a few seconds, Principal Wells' voice could be heard through the speaker to reply. "Thank you, Sharon! You can let them in." He said.

"Go right ahead." She said as she smiled at the two of them.

Ben and Kate both walked over to the door which had Principal Wells' name etched onto the glass window. Ben opened the door for Kate, who went in first. As Ben walked in and closed the door behind him, He saw the Principal standing behind his desk. But as he looked to his left, he saw that his dad and coach was standing near the bookshelves of the office.

' _Dad? What's he doing here_?' Ben thought as the two briefly made eye contact.

"Good morning Kate and Ben. Please, have a seat." Principal Wells said as he stood behind his desk. Ben and Kate both approached the two chairs in front of the Principal's desk and sat in them. "Do you two have something you'd like to speak to me about." He asked.

"Yes." Kate replied as she crossed her legs and put her hands on her knee. "Principal Wells, last night when I was leaving the boys dormitory, Nathan Prescott forced himself onto me and tried to take advantage." She said confidently.

Principal Wells had paused for a few seconds before he responded. "I have to say, that's a very serious accusation you're making, Miss Marsh. Are you sure that you didn't do anything to provoke Mr. Prescott in the first place?"

"No, I didn't. He came towards me while I tried to avoid him." Kate said fearfully. Kate had nothing to be afraid of. It was just that she always felt uneasy when being questioned by authority figures.

"I see. What exactly were you doing in the boy's dormitory, Miss Marsh? From what I've heard this 'incident' took place when curfew was already in effect." Principal Wells said, looking Kate in both eyes.

Ben watched as Kate was being interrogated and didn't like seeing this. She didn't deserve to be grilled like this, especially when it sounded like Wells was taking Nathan's side over hers.

Kate began to speak nervously and attempt to answer the Principal's question. However, Ben could hear the anxiety in her voice and see the fear in her eyes. "I... I..."

"Kate was with me!" Ben spoke out in an attempt to stand up for her. Kate, Principal Wells, and even Coach Ferris all looked at him after he spoke.

Ben sighed before he continued. "I invited Kate to my room to watch a movie with me last night. After the movie was over, Kate said that she was going back to her room. Just a few seconds after she left, I heard shouting out in the hallway. I left my room to see what was going on and that's when I saw Nathan pinning Kate against the wall. Principal Wells, I saw Nathan grope Kate and try to rip off her blouse and that was why I hit him."

"I understand, Ben. Thank you for intervening." Principal Wells said sincerely. "Are you aware of this viral video that involves you physically assaulting Mr. Prescott?" He asked.

"Yes, sir. And I'm sorry." Ben said respectfully. "I didn't intend to hurt Nathan as badly as the video shows..."

"Well, then I'm sure you're aware that Mr. Prescott is currently in the hospital recovering from both a broken nose and a broken jaw." Principal Wells mentioned.

"It was in self-defense." Ben tried to explain. "He pulled out a gun on me and almost..."

"I have heard just enough about this gun accusation. It's clear that it only started as a means to tarnish Nathan's reputation at Blackwell in the first place." He said in a stern voice." It is important to acknowledge that Blackwell has a zero tolerance for sexual misconduct on campus. But that does not justify how you handled the situation and dealt with Mr. Prescott, Ben."

"I'm sorry, Principal Wells." Ben said sadly with his head down. Kate glanced over at Ben and felt bad seeing him being reprimanded when all he did was help her. She reached out her hand and touched his arm to console him. Ben had looked over at her for a brief second and showed a small smile.

"I should remind you that this is the second fight you've been involved in here at Blackwell. And while you didn't face any disciplinary action for the first, I cannot let this one go unpunished." Wells stated. "Coach Ferris, I'm sure you would like to discuss how Ben's actions will affect his standing on the team." Wells said.

"Yes, Principal Wells. Due to the fight that Ben was involved in with Logan last week and the incident involving him and Nathan. I've made the decision to have him removed as a captain and to be cut from the team." He announced.

"What? You're gonna kick me off my own team for stopping someone for hurting Kate?" Ben shouted.

"Ben, watch your tone! You should just be thankful you're not expelled." His dad said sternly.

"This is such bullshit!" Ben mumbled under his breath.

"Now, I don't want either of you two to have to worry about Nathan. He has already been asked to move his belongings out of the Prescott Dormitory and arrangements are being made to have him removed from any of your classes." Principal Wells said. "That's all I have to say. I don't want to keep you here any longer since you're first classes of the day will be starting momentarily. If you have anything else you would like to discuss with me, please don't hesitate to let me know."

Ben and Kate had both gotten up from their seats and left the office. This time, Ben was the first to leave and he didn't even bother looking at his dad when he left the room. Kate only felt bad about being the first to hear that Ben was kicked off the football team just for protecting her. As she walked up towards Ben, she tried to place her hand on his shoulder before saying something to him. However just as she put out her hand, she saw him walk off as fast as he could while on his crutches. He was obviously angry and wanted to be left alone. He had trailed off through the hallways and eventually was at his own locker. Wanting to let out his frustration so badly, he punched his locker as hard as he could, leaving a loud echo in the hallway. He took a deep sigh afterwards. For as long as he could remember, all he ever wanted to do in his life was the right thing by standing up for people who couldn't. But it felt as if there was always some kind of punishment awaiting him in the end for doing so. How was it that whenever he did a selfless act, something horrible was always bound to happen to him? Suddenly, he stopped thinking to himself as he felt a warm hand placed on his shoulder. He slowly turned around to see that it was Kate with a very compassionate look on her face.

"I'm sorry that you got kicked off the team, Ben. You didn't deserve that." Kate said.

"Thanks, Kate. It's whatever, I guess." Ben said solemnly.

Kate could tell that Ben wasn't in the mood, so she decided to change the subject. "Class starts soon and I'm sure you wouldn't want to be late. Would you like to walk with me?" She said as she smiled at him.

Ben smiled back at Kate before giving her an answer. "Yeah! Lead the way."

The two of them had left the lockers and walked down the hallway together. Ben looked to his right to see that Kate was still smiling while holding her books. He managed to catch himself smiling too. It was this very moment that made him see things differently. Sure, he lost his starting position and role as a captain on the team, and he was receiving unwanted attention from a video he was in. But this very moment where he found himself walking to class with the girl he saved and went out of his way to make her happy. It was moments like this that made Ben feel grateful to be at Blackwell.

* * *

A day had passed and it was now Friday. Ben had woken up to some amazing news that morning as he received a phone call from the doctor at Arcadia Bay General. He was told that he could get his cast removed earlier than he expected. Without even pondering on it, the only thing on his mind was to head to the nurse's office to get it removed without having to leave campus. It was a struggle trying to drive a car with the cast on in the first place.

Ben watched with excitement as Nurse Barenchi brushed the medical saw against his cast. In just a few minutes, the white cast was now split in half while freeing Ben's bare right leg as well.

"There you go." The nurse said to him happily.

"Thanks! Feels good to finally be out of that thing." Ben replied as he began to move his leg around.

"Well don't think this means that you can go dancing or playing out on the field again anytime soon." She urged Ben. "Your doctor wanted me to remind you to take it easy the next couple of weeks and to start attending physical therapy once a week too. You're also going to have to start wearing a knee brace during the day too, which you can find at any kind of drug store."

"Good to know. Thanks again, Ms. Barenchi." Ben said while rolling down his pant leg and putting on his sock and sneaker.

As Ben left the nurse's office, he walked down the hallway to head to the cafeteria for lunch, despite being a few minutes late. As he entered the large room, he made his way to one of the lines to grab some food. While walking there, he received a couple of stares and even compliments from some of his friends.

"No cast anymore? Looking good, Ben." Taylor commented as she passed by him.

"Ben on both legs. Nice!" Hayden gestured while standing in line.

"Thanks guys! Feels good to walk again." He replied.

As he finished filling up his tray with food, Ben then showed his school ID to the lady at the register at the end of the line to pay for his meal. While he stood in the cafeteria, he saw his table that he always sat at, which was occupied by his usual friends; Dana, Zach, Juliet, Hayden, Courtney, and Taylor. However, there were two people missing. Nathan was obviously a no show and Ben theorized that he was probably still in the hospital, most likely eating food through a straw if anything. But Victoria was also nowhere to be found either.

On the other side of the cafeteria, Ben saw another table that was occupied by Max, Warren, Alyssa, Stella, and of course, Kate. They were all talking and laughing with each other and seemed to be enjoying themselves, especially Kate. Ben could see that there were four empty chairs at their table and he made the initiative to go over and sit with them.

"Hey guys!" Ben greeted as he walked over to the table holding his tray of food.

"Woah! Ben minus the crutches and cast. Congrats, dude!" Warren stated.

"Thanks, Warren!" Ben said. "Is it... cool if I sit with you guys?" He asked with a friendly smile.

Everyone at the table had paused and weren't sure of how to respond to Ben's question. For them, this was the first time that a Vortex Club member was approaching  _their_  table and asking to sit with  _them_.

"Sure, you can." Kate answered to break the silence. "There's a seat right here." She said while smiling at Ben and pointing at an empty seat next to her.

"Thanks!" Ben said as he walked over to the seat next to Kate and placed his tray down on the table. Just before he could pull out his chair, Ben heard a screaming voice calling out for him, which not only gained the attention of him, but everyone in the entire cafeteria.

"Ben, what the fuck?!" The person shouted, who turned out to be Victoria. She was marching over to Ben with an angry look on her face and when she was finally standing near him, she smacked him as hard as she could.

"Nice to see you too, Victoria." Ben said sarcastically as he rubbed his cheek.

"You're the definition of a scumbag, you know that?" Victoria commented.

"What are you even talking about?" Ben asked.

"Oh please! You may be a Drama student, but you're not fooling me by acting like you didn't do anything wrong. I watched that video of you beating Nathan to a bloody pulp." She shouted.

"Victoria, it's not Ben's fault!" Kate interrupted in a pleading tone.

"Kate, please stay out of this! The adults are talking right now." She said rudely while pointing at Kate. Kate sat back down in her seat and looked down at the table, feeling bad for intervening. "I'm at a loss for words to even say to you right now, Ben. Nathan was your friend. You knew what he was going through. How people here treated him like shit just because of who his dad is."

"I knew exactly what he was dealing with. I was there when things would get hard for him and he needed someone to talk to." Ben argued.

"Oh really? Well where were you when his whole family disowned him after you got him suspended? Or when he had to go the hospital to get his jaw put back into place after you dislocated it? I know, let's ask Kate." Victoria mocked.

"Kate has nothing to do with any of this." He claimed.

"Really? Because it seems like she does, considering you've been spending more time with her than any of your real friends lately. She's not the only one with a viral video anymore." Victoria scoffed.

"That's not the point, Victoria. Nathan should know better not to hit a girl or put his hands on them where he shouldn't." Ben defended.

"Whatever, Ben. Nathan's practically afraid to come back to Blackwell without worrying about everyone calling him a rapist or a creep. His mom cleaned out his dorm room for him today because you got him kicked out. She's completely heartbroken by it and I decided to help her. That's why I wasn't in class this morning." Victoria explained. "He didn't deserve any of that pain or humiliation you caused him. You of all people should understand that he's not well. He was probably just off his meds the other night."

"That's your argument? So you think that whenever Nathan's off his meds, that gives him the right to bully people on a daily basis or dose someone at a party when all they wanted to do was let loose and have fun. Or even worse, try to physically attack them in the middle of a hallway. If you think Nathan can do whatever he wants just because he's off his meds, then maybe he actually belongs in a fucking mental institution instead of a private academy." Ben shouted. The room went completely silent as everyone's heads shot up and stared directly at Ben and Victoria.

Victoria paused for a few seconds with her mouth open as she was in shock of what she heard Ben say. "I can't believe you, Ben. I thought that when you came here and joined the Vortex Club, you would think of all of us as your family. But it turns out that you really are just a California douche who thinks he's better than everyone else here. You think that being the captain of the football team in your first year, saving someone's life, and beating up the richest kid at Blackwell will make everyone like you? You probably think you're the new Rachel Amber don't you? Well I hate to burst your bubble Ben, but you're not. You're just a bully!"

"No, Victoria. You're the bully!" Kate said as she stood up from her seat again and faced Victoria.

"Excuse me?" Victoria said.

"You don't know Ben at all." Kate argued.

"Oh, and like you do?" Victoria mocked.

"Ben has done more for me than anybody else here at Blackwell. Not because he feels bad for me, but because he empathizes with me. He's gone out of his way to make me happy and to keep me safe. You're only siding with Nathan because you've known him longer than you've known Ben, which isn't fair at all. That's why you only want to believe what you want, Victoria."

"Are you serious? You're standing up for him." Victoria stammered as she looked at both Kate and Ben. "And both of you are ganging up on me? After how hard I've been trying to treat you better this whole week?"

"That's not what this about, Victoria. Ben has been through a lot of awful things that you couldn't even imagine." Victoria stated.

"Like what? What kind of awful things has ever happened to 'Mr. Bigfoot' of all people besides having a football injury. Try me, Kate!" Victoria said in an annoyed voice. Kate was completely speechless and was hesitant if she should mention the secrets that Ben told her about himself the past two days. The tragedy he dealt with when he was younger. The abuse he faced at the hands of someone he couldn't fight back. Kate had built up an amount of courage to stand up to Victoria, but did she have the courage to divulge the things that Ben had confided in her with?

"It's okay, you don't have to say anything else." Ben said as he placed his hand on Kate's. "You can believe whatever you want Victoria. You just don't know Nathan like I do and that's why I'm done trying to help him. To be honest, I'm done with all of this."

"What? What do you mean you're done?" Victoria asked.

"I'm saying that I'm leaving the Vortex Club. For good." Ben answered.

"Ben, you can't just leave. We're your friends." Victoria exclaimed.

"Don't worry. You still are." He said.

Victoria made a loud frustrating grunt to herself before speaking again. "I don't have time for this. I really hope you know what you're doing, Ben." She said before walking away. Ben only looked at her while he shook his head and sat down in his seat that was next to Kate.

"Thanks for having my back. I appreciate it." He said as he turned to face Kate.

"You're welcome. It's like you said. It's what friends do." She said with a smile.

* * *

The end of the day was finally nearing as everyone was now in their last class. As Kate sat in her least favorite class, Art History, she couldn't help but shift her eyes between the clock and her teacher, Mrs. French who was giving a class lecture. Kate loved art, which was why she came to Blackwell in the first place. It was just this class in particular that felt so dry and tedious, which made it feel like it lasted even longer. But sooner than she expected, the bell rang and the weekend now began for everyone.

As she left the classroom and walked through the halls, Kate began to reflect on how this week went. How she hoped to stay out of the spotlight as best as she could, however, it didn't seem possible with all the happenings that she and Ben had dealt with. However, she thought back to what the school counselor, Beth, had told her. How being back at Blackwell was now about trying her best to be happy. But no one said that it would be easy. Regardless, it just felt good for her to be back for another weekend even if she didn't know how she would be spending it this time. While walking back to her dorm, she looked at the bench near the building that she usually sat at on afternoons and saw that Ben was sitting there reading a book. She was curious as to how he was already outside when classes just ended minutes ago. She decided to go over to him and have a conversation since he was alone.

"Hi, Ben." Kate said cheerfully, breaking Ben's concentration and causing him to look up at her.

"Oh hey, Kate. What's up?" He said.

"I'm okay. Can I sit with you?" She said.

"Sure." He replied as he took his backpack off the bench, providing a seat for her.

"What are you reading?" She asked with interest as she sat next to him.

" _A Farewell to Arms_. It's a World War I novel by Ernest Hemmingway. Mrs. Hoida let us out of class early today so we could have some time to work on our book reports for next week."

"What's it about?" Kate asked curiously.

"It's about this young American named Fredric, whose an ambulance driver for the Italian army during the war. He comes back to the front after taking a leave and he falls in love with this nurse named Catherine." Ben explained.

"Oh, so it's a love story?" Kate asked.

"It's kind of more than just that. You see, Fredric's been haunted by so many horrors of the war and Catherine's still mourning the death of her fiancé, who was killed in the war. After Fredric gets wounded by an artillery bombardment, Catherine transfers to the hospital that he's being treated at to help him recover. They start to spend their free time with each other and realize that love is the only thing that helps them get past the cruel world their both living in. But there's much more to it. I don't really like to spoil the entire story for people."

"Well it sounds very interesting from what you just told me." Kate said.

"It really is. You're more than welcome to borrow it once I'm finished with it." Ben said sincerely.

"I'd like that." She replied. "Everyone's been talking about how you decided to leave the Vortex Club."

"Why am I not surprised. Juliet wants to interview me sometime for a story on the Vortex Club that she's working on for the school paper." Ben said. "I'm sure people will get over it soon. You were kind of a badass yourself today for standing up to Victoria like that."

"I just didn't think it was right for her to speak to you like that when she didn't know the full story about happened that night. I hope she doesn't think that I'm holding a grudge against her for what she's done to me. " Kate explained. "Why did you decide to leave anyway? I thought everyone in the Vortex Club were your friends." She asked confusingly.

"They still are, Kate. It's just that I felt like it was something that had to be done." He explained.

"Really? Why's that?" She replied.

"Because I've been a screw up for most of my life." Ben said as he looked down at the green grass.

"Ben, I've known you for over a week now and you're not a screw up from what I've seen." Kate reassured.

Ben only laughed as she said this. "You obviously didn't know me before I came here. After all the messed-up shit that happened in my life when I was a kid, it kinda changed me and I became a different person to hide who I really was. Sometimes it feels like this whole 'Mr. Popular' persona is just an act that I put on."

"What do you mean by that?" Kate said.

"I kind of became a trouble child in school. I always associated myself with the jocks, started fights with the school bullies, and would even sneak out of the house to party with my friends and get wasted with them on school nights." Ben expressed.

"I never knew that about you, Ben."

"No one here does but you and me. But that's why I feel comfortable telling you these things, because I know you can keep a secret and you won't judge me for the things I've done." Ben said. "The worst thing that I probably could have done happened earlier this year. I was always the athlete back in high school. I ended up playing three sports a year."

"That's impressive!" Kate commented.

"Yeah. Football in the fall, Basketball in the winter, and Lacrosse in the spring. Well, back in May, our school's Lax team advanced to Regionals and got to play in this huge tournament in Seattle against teams all over the country."

"So, what happened." She asked.

"Well, we played our first match and we won, meaning that we were going to advance to the Semi-Finals. When we found out that the team we would be going against was in the lowest seed, we figured it would be an easy win. So a couple of my buddies and I decided to get completely shit-faced at some nightclub that wasn't gonna card us. We ended up taking shots left and right and even killed an entire bottle of Cîroc, which is probably one of the best kinds of Vodka out there in my opinion."

"Sounds like you guys had a lot to drink." Kate commented.

"We definitely found that out the hard way the next morning, which was when we had our match. Our coach knew that we were so hungover that morning too and most of us were starting players on team. I tried to push through and score a goal for the team. That is before I projectile vomited on the field." He said.

"Gross." She said.

"Yeah, not my proudest moment in life." Ben admitted.

"Then what happened?" She asked.

"Well, after I was decent. My coach benched me for the remainder of the game along the rest of my friends who went out drinking the night before. And since our season was over when we got back to school, we had to face some kind of consequence for what we did. So, we weren't allowed to walk at graduation for underage drinking."

"Sorry that happened to you. I don't even want to think about what my parents would do if that was me."

"Well, my dad was considering sending me to the Marines to get me straightened out. But my mom on the other hand, had the idea that sending me to Blackwell could be a way for me to have a fresh start before going to college and making the same mistakes again. If you ask me, I think I've made those same mistakes by joining the Vortex Club."

"I don't really think that's true." Kate said.

"You don't?" Ben asked while having a sense of shock in his voice.

"Of course not, Ben. You may have the reputation of a partier here at Blackwell, but you're still a kind and selfless person. I can't tell you how many times I've been beginning to feel so happy now, compared to how I felt in the past few weeks. And I owe it all to you." Kate said.

"I guess you're right. You said it yourself that you believe in forgiveness and redemption. I guess that's what being at Blackwell is about for me. A chance for redemption. That's why I said I was going to quit the Vortex Club today at lunch. After I got kicked off the football team yesterday, I wondered if it was really a blessing in disguise. I just hope this all pays off in the end."

"I'm sure that it will, Ben." She said. "I know that you won't be playing football anymore, but do you think you'll try out for the lacrosse team in the spring?"

"Actually, I was thinking about joining the drama club and getting involved in the spring musical instead."

"Really?" Kate asked in surprise.

"Yeah. I've been thinking about joining for a while now but I never could because football conflicted with it so much. Besides, most of the guys on the team probably would have just laughed if they found out I wanted to do theatre." Ben admitted.

"Why should that even matter? You should go after your own passions and not have to worry what other people think. I have dreams of writing my own children's books even though some people think that it sounds childish." Kate shared.

"Actually, that doesn't sound childish at all. To be honest, I think it's kinda... cute. I would read your books, even if they were meant for kids. Ben admitted.

"That's really sweet of you, Ben. But do you see what I mean, even if our pursuits in life may seem different or odd to some people, there's always one person who will support us. And if you ask me, I would come to all of your plays that you were in just to see you perform on stage." She stated.

"Thanks! For believing in me." He replied. "Are you doing anything tonight by the way?"

"What?" Kate asked, sounding baffled.

"Oh, I'm sorry if that sounded forward at all." He said apologetically. He didn't want Kate to get the impression that he was trying to make a pass at her.

"No, it's not that. It's just... I actually haven't gone out since the night I went to that party. And I was home with my family last weekend and you know how that went."

"Oh, right. I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out with us tonight to watch a movie."

"Tonight? But I thought you were going to that Halloween dance that everyone's been talking about."

"I kinda decided that I want to stay out of the spotlight for a while. You know, after everything that happened this week." Ben explained.

"Oh! So, does this mean that Blackwell's social butterfly is beginning to turn into a wallflower?" Kate joked.

"Okay, laugh it up, Marsh. It might just be temporary. But then again, I am starting to get tired of the whole party scene. To be honest it's just same shit, different night. And the hangovers are never fun to deal with the next morning."

"So, who else will be attending this movie night." Kate asked.

"My best friend Chloe will be there. You briefly met her when you went to see me at the hospital on Monday. And she's also friends with Max, who I also invited in class today. I told her that she's more than welcome to invite Warren too. Which means that if you're on board, then that makes five of us."

"Then you can count me in too I guess."

"Great! It'll be at my house. The team has an away game tonight, which means my dad will be back home pretty late anyway. So we pretty much have the place for most of the night." Ben explained. "Plus, we're going to order pizza."

"Pizza?" Kate asked as she couldn't help but smile upon hearing Ben say that.

"Oh, yeah! The best kind too. There's this place here in Arcadia Bay that delivers called Vito's. They have some of the best toppings that you probably haven't heard of. As I've said before, you haven't lived until you've had pizza topped with French Fries."

"French Fries on pizza?" Kate questioned with a puzzled look on her face.

"Yeah, it's a funny story how they came up with that topping. Last summer Chloe and I were both high and decided to order from Vito's. We asked them if we could get a side of fries to go with the pizza. But they told us that they didn't serve fries since they were a pizza place. So, Chloe and I ended up getting these two large fries from Burger King and we pour them all over this large cheese pizza that we ordered. I took a picture of it and posted it on my Instagram while including hashtag 'take notes Vito's' and it got over a hundred likes. Apparently, Vito's decided to give it a try and it's become a fan favorite topping to this day."

"And they owe it all to you and Chloe. In that case, I'm looking forward to trying a slice of it tonight." Kate said. She stood up and placed her bag over her shoulder. "I think I'm going to go to my room now. I know it's nice out but I feel like playing my violin since I haven't in a while. What time should I be ready to go?"

"Probably around five if anything. I still need to head to the boy's locker room and clean out my football locker anyway." He said

"Do you think I could get a ride to your house? I don't have a car on campus." Kate asked shyly.

"Sure thing! You can meet me in the parking lot when you're ready. Just make sure to bring five dollars with you to chip in for the pizza."

"Okay, I will. See you later, Ben!" Kate said as she began to walk over to the doors of the dorm building in front of her.

Now that Ben was alone again, he had to focus on the task at hand, which was to clean out his locker as he was no longer a member of the team. He knew that it wouldn't be easy and it was why he enjoyed his talk with Kate. Because it was a way of stalling from doing the inevitable.

* * *

As he entered the boys' locker room, Ben had come to the realization that he was the only person in there. The entire team was already getting ready to take off for their away game. He walked over to the back corner of the room, holding an empty cardboard box to place his belongings. As he now stood in front of the locker that was labeled "Ferris, #17", it was becoming a harder task for him as he opened the door of the locker. He took a deep sigh as he placed his gloves inside the box, followed by his cleats, then his mouth guard, and finally his shoulder pads. He still couldn't believe that this moment was happening. Why was it that he had to lose the position that he worked so hard over the summer to earn just for doing the right thing? The only thing left in Ben's locker was know his jersey and his helmet, which he would have to return to his dad. This would be the absolute hardest thing for him to do as he would have to face both the look and feeling of disappointment his father would show.

As Ben was now outside in the parking lot, he walked over to his car and opened the backseat door to place the box of his football gear onto the floor. As he stood up and was about to close the door, he could see a yellow school bus and the entire football team lining up to enter the two buses and place their equipment inside. As he continued to look, Ben could see his dad and former coach standing in front of the first bus. While he had the chance to get into his car and drive away, Ben decided to grab his helmet and jersey instead and face his father. He felt his nerves begin to tense up as he was getting closer to the bus.

"Hey, Dad." Ben greeted in a deadpan tone.

Coach Ferris was completely caught off guard by hearing the sound of Ben's voice and turned around to see his own son behind him.

"Ben. I'm surprised to see you here." He said.

"Why would you be? You wanted me to clean out my locker since I'm not on the team anymore." Ben replied.

Ben's dad sighed as he picked up on his son's flippant manner. "I know this is hard for you, but Principal Wells and I both agreed that something had to be done to address the way you've been behaving recently. That was your second fight this month. I thought by coming to a new school, you'd be done with getting into."

"I was, Dad. I've been trying to change, I really have. It's just hard to not do anything when people are always try to hurt Kate." Ben defended.

"See, that's the thing. Each of these fights you got into, the one with Nathan, Logan, and even Mr. Madsen all have something in common. They have to do with that Kate girl. I think you might be hanging out with the wrong people sometimes."

"The wrong people?" Ben repeated nearly sounding offended.

"It just seems like she's taking advantage of you to solve her own problems. To be honest, I don't think that girl's right for you."

"So what? You expected me to just sit on my ass the other night when I heard Kate in trouble. If I hadn't left my room and stopped Nathan, he could have done God knows what to her. She needed my help, Dad!" Ben argued.

"But you didn't have to beat the crap out of Nathan!" His father shouted, causing Ben to freeze. "I'm sorry. It's just that you only you made matters worse after what you did to him."

"What are talking about?" Ben asked.

"You wouldn't understand, Ben." He said calmly.

"Just tell me, Dad! Please." Ben yelled.

"Okay, then. Last week, I got an email and a phone call from Sean Prescott, Nathan's father. He told me that you got Nathan suspended because you accused him of drugging your friend, Kate at some party. Mr. Prescott wasn't happy that someone was telling tales about his son." Coach Ferris explained.

"But I didn't make it up. Nathan confessed to drugging Kate that night after... after I hit him. Everyone on my floor even heard him admit to it. Kate can press charges against him at this point."

"This isn't about Kate. I know what happened to her last week, but right now this is about the Prescotts. They're a very powerful family."

"So what? Are they gonna evict us from our house just for messing with their spoiled brat son." Ben taunted. "Or let me guess, hire some hitman to take us both out and make it look like an... "

"Ben, this is serious!" His father said strictly. "Nathan has always had trouble with ... trying to fit in at Blackwell."

"What?" Ben snarked.

His father only sighed as he knew Ben was going to have a hard time believing it. But something was telling Ben that his father knew what he was saying. "Before you even came here, he used to be on the football team." Coach Ferris admitted.

"Nathan Prescott? A Blackwell Bigfoot? Now you're totally messing with me." Ben laughed.

"It's true. Just ask Zach, Logan, or any of the other old timers on this team." He reassured. "Nathan didn't earn his spot on the team like everyone else. His father bribed me to get him on the team halfway through the season. He thought that being on the team would help his son make friends and get people to like him."

"He shouldn't have to pretend to be an athlete to get people to like him. Was it that hard for him to just be himself?" Ben stated.

"You don't get it, Ben. Nathan's father isn't exactly a good man. Over the years he's taken people's jobs and their homes to profit his own business. Those people's kids would take their frustration out on Nathan at school. The football team was even worse to him. In all my twenty years of coaching this team, Nathan was the only person who had ever been hazed by other kids on the team."

"How bad?" He asked.

"To the point where I sat down with him and told him it would be best if he quit the team. He didn't even finish the season with us. I still see him walking around campus every now and then. I really worry about him sometimes, Ben. Seeing people treat him like that reminded me of... of your brother." He said while struggling to finish that last sentence.

Ben gritted his teeth as he heard his father finish that sentence. "Don't ever say that, Dad! Nathan Prescott may have been bullied from what your telling me, but he's nothing like Ronnie." He said angrily. "So did Nathan have to do with me being off the team?"

"I didn't have a choice." Coach answered.

"What do you mean you didn't have a choice?" Ben asked.

"I just need you to understand the position that I was in, Ben." His dad said.

"Sure." He replied.

"I got a call on Wednesday night from Sean Prescott. He claimed that you assaulted Nathan in the hall of the boys' dorm and sent him to the hospital. He said his son looked like he got into a fight with a damn grizzly bear. When Mr. Prescott found out about the video of you attacking Nathan, he remembered that you also got him suspended last week. He wasn't happy about it."

"So then what?"

"Nathan's father threatened to stop funding the team if I didn't take any kind of disciplinary action against you. That's why I had you kicked you off the team. I'm sorry, Ben." His father said sadly.

"You mean you sold me out just so you could have the money to buy the best equipment for your team?"

"Ben, I know that you're mad but just let me explain everything..."

"No, Dad! I already let you explain everything." Ben shouted furiously. "I've been trying so hard to please you since this season started but you've only been doing a better job at being a coach than a father. That's why mom left you in the first place."

"Ben, don't start!" His father said in a strict tone.

"Actually, I think I have every right to start. Because I can't think of any other fathers out there who would screw their own son over just to benefit themselves. I was wrong to have joined this team from the start. I hate you!" Ben yelled, which lead to complete silence between the two. "You know what? I think I'm gonna go to San Francisco for Thanksgiving this year. You never get to see me that time of the year anyway, so why would it even matter to you? Let me know when you actually care about me." Ben said.

He dropped the helmet and jersey on the ground before storming back to his car. As he opened the door and entered the driver's seat, he slammed the door shut and pulled out of the parking spot, driving back to the student parking lot on the other side of campus as fast as he could. As he reached his stop, Ben had parked his car into an empty space and stopped everything he was doing. He had a tight grip on his steering wheel with both hands and placed his head closer to the wheel. Deep down, he felt awful for what he said to his own father. For as long as he remembered, his parents had done right by him that the thought of speaking out to them had never crossed his mind. But things started to feel different between him and his dad ever since he attended Blackwell and joined the team. Each day at practice, it always seemed like Ben and his dad's strong father son relationship was straining and becoming more of an athlete and coach connection and nothing else. He remembered hearing over the summer about the donation he received from Sean Prescott and felt happy for his Dad. It meant that after all those years of hard work and commitment to leading and mentoring so many young men on the team, the Bigfoots now had the money to buy the new uniforms and equipment, and have the entire field remodeled, which they deserved. But sometimes he wondered if his dad made a beneficial choice or just a deal with the devil by accepting a donation from the Prescotts. And speaking of the Prescotts, Ben still didn't want to believe what he heard from his own father about Nathan once being bullied. How was it possible that someone who started to become the biggest jerk at Blackwell to him, was once picked on by everyone at school because of his family. Was it possible that he was once like Kate or even Ronnie. Did all of the harassment finally wear him down and turn him into someone worse. Even if that was the case, he had already done enough damage.

' _I don't even care if Nathan was bullied._ ' Ben thought to himself. ' _What he's done to me, to Kate, and my other friends can't be undone. People like Kate might believe in forgiveness for everyone but he doesn't deserve my forgiveness. I thought he was my friend. I thought I could trust him. But he just thinks that he can do as he pleases without facing any consequences. If it were anyone else, they'd be kicked out of this school by know. But not him. Well then fuck you too, Nathan Prescott. You're dead to me and I'm better off without you.' He declared. 'Why did it have to be this way between us? Things were so much different until I met Kate. But whenever I'm around her, I just feel like... like I'm really happy. Could it be that I... like Kate?_ '

As Ben began to think to himself more on this, he was startled at the sound of someone knocking on the window of his car, only to see that it was Kate. As she waved at him from outside, Ben rolled down his window to talk to her.

"Hey." Ben said. "Ready to go?"

"I'm ready if you are." Kate answered.

"Sweet! Hop in and I'll get us to my house in about ten minutes."

"Okay, then." Kate happily replied as she walked to the other side of Ben's car and opened the door.

As the two of them both buckled up, Ben pulled out of the parking spot and drove off. The two of them were now leaving Blackwell, a place that both of them just needed to get away from for a while, and were off to have a night of fun with other friends.

"You can put something on the radio if you want." Ben said as he looked at the road ahead.

"Me?" Kate questioned as she looked over at Ben.

"Yeah. First rule of riding shotgun is that you get to pick the tunes." He stated. "Unfortunately, this car was made before aux cords even existed, so you'll just have switch between radio stations."

"Okay, then. I'm not too familiar with the stations, but I'll try my best to find something that we'll both enjoy." She said. As Kate fiddled around with the radio stations for a few seconds and heard nothing but advertisements or commentaries, she had finally stopped as a song finally came on. It was called Hey,  _Hey, Hey, (It's Gonna Be Okay)_  by stephaniesid.

"I've actually never heard this one before." Ben commented.

"Me neither. It's kind of catchy though." Kate replied.

As the song continued to play, Ben drove steadily along the road while Kate looked out the window of the passenger seat and admired the sunset. Her dirty blonde hair being blown by the wind as both of the car's front windows were rolled down to let in some fresh air. As they drove down the roads of Arcadia Bay, Ben had shifted his eyes between the road and Kate who sat next to him. He could see her still looking out the window while the breeze blew through her hair. He smiled upon gazing at her and caught himself looking back at her several times during the drive. As they were now arriving at his house, Ben had noticed that Chloe's rust pickup truck was parked in the drive way.

"Looks like Chloe's already here. But where is she?" Ben observed as he pulled over on the curb right near his house. He got out and walked over on the other side to open Kate's door for her.

"Thanks." Kate said as she unbuckled her seatbelt and stepped out of the car. "So, is this where you live?"

"For as long as I can remember. My dad is the one who actually pays the bills though." He said.

The two of them went up to the steps of the porch and approached the front door of the house. Ben pulled out his lanyard, which had his essential keys connected to them, and reached for his house key. As he unlocked the front door, he and Kate both walked inside the house and made their way to the living room, only to meet an unexpected surprise as Ben turned on the light switch.

"I've been expecting you." Chloe said in a mischievous voice as she sat in the chair of the living room.

"Chloe, how did you even get in here?" Ben asked confusedly.

"I used the spare key you and your dad keep under the mat. You know, the one you told me to use if I ever needed a place to crash?" She stated.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Anyway, I'm glad you're already here. You've met Kate before, right?"

"Only briefly when you were at the hospital on Monday. What's up?" Chloe said as she put her hand out.

"It's good to finally meet you, Chloe." Kate said as she reached her arm out and gently shook Chloe's hand.

"Max and her bitch, Warren, are on their way. They should be here any minute now. And I already called Vito's and told them what we want."

"So, what did you order for us?" Ben asked.

"Two large pizzas. One with half cheese and half pepperoni and one with French fry toppings." Chloe said confidently.

"You never fail to amaze, Chloe." Ben said.

"Damn straight I don't! I made the order, so that means you have to answer the door and get the food." She told him.

"Glad we're still going by our delivery rules from day one." Ben said.

"Hey, Ben. May I use your bathroom?" Kate asked politely.

"Yeah. It's the last door on your left upstairs." He replied.

"Thanks. I'll be right back." Kate said as she turned around and left the living room to go up the stairs.

Ben watched as Kate walked away and Chloe observed him doing this for a couple of seconds.

"So, Kate's kinda cute." Chloe stated.

"Um, yeah, she is. Why? You want to me to put in a good word for you or something?" Ben asked.

"Relax, Casanova? I was actually gonna do that for you." Chloe teased.

"What?" Ben asked, almost sounding embarrassed.

"Oh come on, dude. I saw the way you two were looking at each other at the hospital. And besides, why would she even agree to come here and watch a movie with us in the first place? Face it, tough guy. You're hella falling for Kate Marsh."

"It hasn't crossed my mind once." Ben said in his defense.

"You're not as cute when you lie, you know." Chloe mocked.

"Alright, alright! The truth is... I like her. But I just don't think it would work out between us. To be honest, I think we're just better off as friends."

"Ben Ferris has trouble trying to get a girlfriend? Know that's the understatement of the year." She said while snickering.

"It's just complicated, Chloe." He stated.

"Try me." Chloe retorted.

Ben sighed as he knew that Chloe wasn't going to give up. "It's just that Kate and I are completely different from each other. She goes to bible study every Tuesday and leads an abstinence campaign at Blackwell. Meanwhile, she already knows about my reputation as a partier, not to mention how many girls on campus I've even slept around with."

"True. But if Kate's been around you for this long then she has to know that you're really a sensitive muscular teddy-bear." Chloe poked. "If she spends more time with you, she might get to know you better than anyone else."

"You really think so? My dad doesn't seem to like her. He thinks she's been a bad influence on me ever since I started getting into trouble."

"Your dad doesn't like anything besides winning." She said, which made Ben laugh. "Seriously, Ben, it doesn't matter how different you two are. Just look at me and Max. And besides, who gives a fuck about what people think of you and Kate? I'm not really good at these kind of things, but I guess what I'm trying to say is, just do whatever makes you happy."

"I guess you're right, Chloe. Right now, I'm still trying to figure out what it means to be happy though." Ben replied. "So, about you and Max." He said while grinning at Chloe.

"Why did I even say anything?" Chloe said as she rolled her eyes.

"Hey, it's okay. If you feel a certain way about her, then your secret's safe with me." He reassured. "Then again, Warren might be a bit of a competition for you."

"Please, those two will be in a nursing home together before he even makes a move on Max." She said.

"By the way, I've got something for you." Ben brought up as he reached into his back pocket.

"Okay. What is it exactly." Chloe asked.

Ben pulled out the cellphone he took from Nathan's room and showed it to Chloe. "I found it in Nathan's room the other night. Hopefully he won't miss it. He had it kept away, meaning he didn't want anyone to find it. It might give us a clue of the last place Rachel was at before she disappeared."

"Good thinking, Ben. This better help us find out where she went." Chloe said as she looked at the phone as it was still wrapped in the plastic zip lock bag.

"Hey. We'll find her. I promise." He told her as he placed his hand on her shoulder to reassure her.

"I'm back." Kate said from behind the two as she stood at the door frame of the living room. "So, what movie are we going to watch?"

"We're not sure yet." Chloe said. "We have to figure that out as soon as..." The sound of the doorbell had interrupted Chloe, which instead brought a look of excitement to her face. "Sweet. That's either Max and Warren, or our pizza. I'm not sure which I'm more excited about." She said.

"I'll go see who it is. Both of you have your money?" Ben asked.

"Right here." Chloe said, proudly holding up her five-dollar bill.

"Here you go." Kate said happily as she handed her five dollars to Ben.

"Thanks, you two. I'll be right back." He said as he walked over to the front door.

As Ben opened the door, he was welcomed by both Max and Warren and could also see the pizza delivery car parked outside.

"Hey guys!" Ben said as he greeted the two.

"What's up Ben? Nice place." Warren stated.

"Thanks again for inviting us, Ben." Max said.

"No problem, guys. Kate and Chloe are already inside. I'll take care of the pizza guy." Ben said.

"Cool. Here's my five." Warren said, handing his money to Ben.

"Mine too." Max said as she did the same. The two of them both went inside the house while Ben waited for the delivery man to come to the porch.

"How's it going, man?" Ben asked in a friendly tone.

"Doing alright. Two large pizzas, one cheese and pepperoni and one French fry, right?" The delivery man replied.

"That's right." He said.

"Great. That'll be $18.25." He told Ben.

"Alright, here you go." Ben said as he handed the cash to the man and took the two boxes from him. "Keep the change."

"Thanks." The man said before he walked back to his car.

"Have a good night." He called out as the man walked away.

Ben walked back inside the house and closed the door behind him. He was eager to open the box of pizza and take a slice as the smell was hitting against his face.

"It's pizza time ,you guys! We got a large pepperoni and cheese and my personal favorite, the French Fry." He shouted with excitement just before he heard bickering in the living room.

"No way are we watching that one, Max. We practically watched it to death when we were younger." Chloe said

"What movie?" Ben asked.

"Night at the Museum." Kate answered. "I've actually never seen any of them before."

"What? See, Kate hasn't seen it. Now that means we have to watch it." Max argued playfully.

"You don't get to choose though." Chloe said.

"Chloe, that is so unfair. Warren, back me up." Max said.

"I can't. We saw it so many times together that I was ready to delete the movie from my flash drive and say it was lost." Warren said.

"You guys are the worst." Max said.

"What's everyone else thinking about watching." Ben asked.

"I'm not very picky." Kate insisted.

"Same." Warren said.

"I was kinda thinking something sci-fi. How about Blade Runner?" Chloe suggested.

"Back to the Future?" Ben proposed.

"Independence Day?" Warren mentioned.

"Oohh, good pick, Warren. Will Smith is the man!" Chloe complemented.

"What about one of the Marvel movies? I've always wanted to see one of those." Kate suggested.

"Yes, Kate! Avengers anyone?" Warren said.

"I'd be cool with the Avengers." Max said.

"It's been a while since I've seen Blade Runner, so that one's got my pick." Ben said.

"Well, that just leaves Kate as our tie breaker." Chloe stated, resulting in everyone looking at her.

"To be honest, I actually haven't seen either before." Kate admitted. "I guess I'll have to go with... Blade Runner?"

"You've chosen wisely, young Kate." Chloe said. "It's only a quarter after six right now anyway, which means we've got hella time to have a double feature night."

"Sounds good to me. I'll start the movie." Ben said as he searched for Blade Runner through the Netflix menu.

"Wait!" Max called out. "Before we start the movie, I want to get a picture of all of us. You know, to capture this moment." She said as she began to reach into her bag to find her camera.

"Good idea, Max. This will be great for us to look back at some day." Kate said.

"Why don't we take the picture on the couch? I'm sure it can fit all of us." Ben suggested.

"That works. Let me just set the timer on my camera and we'll be all set." Max said as she placed the camera underneath the wide screen television, a perfect angle to get a picture of the five of them on the couch.

"Quick Max, get over here before the picture gets taken without you." Chloe said impatiently.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." She replied as she rushed over the couch and plopped down on the end of the left side, sitting next to Chloe.

Right next to Chloe on her other side was Kate, who sat in the middle of the couch and Ben, who sat on the other end of the couch next to her. And while there was still room for Warren, he decided to lay across the four who were sitting to add a more humorous tone to the photo.

"Alright, smiles you guys!" Max said. The group cheerfully smiled together just before the flash of Max's camera appeared before them. Max immediately ran back to the camera to see the picture and shake it.

"We look awesome together you guys." Max said as she studied the photo and held it up to show everyone else.

"That's definitely a keeper for sure." Ben said. "I'll start the movie now."

"You sure seem pretty eager to be having this movie night with us, Ben." Kate mentioned.

"Well, I guess it's cause I'm keeping myself in good company for a change." Ben said as he rubbed the back of his neck. Kate only smiled after hearing this.

As Ben hit the play button, he walked back over to the couch and sat right next to Kate while grabbing a slice of pizza from one of the boxes.

"Hey, Ben?" Kate whispered next to him.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"Can you hand me one of the slices of the French fry pizza, please? I'm really interested in trying it." She said, sounding a bit more enthusiastic.

"Sure. Here you go." He said as he opened the box and handed a slice to her.

Kate took her first bite of the warm slice of the pizza, topped with several fries, pieces of bacon and ranch dressing drizzled on top of it. It was delicious enough to make her smile.

"It's really good." she whispered as she smiled at Ben.

"See, what did I tell you?" He said while smiling back at her.

As Chloe could hear the two of them whispering, she turned her head to see Ben and Kate exchanging smiles and fixing their eyes on each other instead of the screen. She could only just roll her eyes and smile at what she was seeing. Even if the two of them weren't paying attention to the movie, that didn't change the fact that they were both in the company of their friends who cared so much about them.

* * *

Nathan Prescott began to walk down a set of stairs leading to a giant vault door with a keypad on its left side. He punched in the numbers on the pad while looking over both of his shoulders in a paranoid state, as if he was being followed. As he heard a beeping sound, he then opened the door quickly and shut it behind him. As Nathan entered a storage room that was stocked with canned and boxed nonperishable foods such as cereal and mushroom soup along with plastic bottles of water, he walked past the room and went through a curtain. He was now in a bright room filled with studio and photography equipment. He stopped right where he was and looked at the only dimly lit corner of this room that had a desk with a computer and a shadowy figure standing behind the desk with his back facing Nathan.

"About time you showed up. I was wondering when they were going to let you out of the hospital. I've heard a broken jaw can take some time to recover from. Especially when it was given to you by someone you once called a 'friend'." The man said as he turned to face Nathan and looked at face which was still badly bruised.

Nathan didn't speak as he had just recently had his jaw reset. He only looked down at the floor sadly in response to the man's remarks.

"The secret's already out you know. Everybody knows you drugged  _her_  because  _he_  beat the truth out of you." He said to Nathan with a sound of disappointment in his voice. "Did you tell him anything else?"

Nathan only shook his head in response.

"Good. We need to make sure it stays that way. But I know that he won't stop trying to find out what really happened that night. We both saw how suspicious he was last week in the Principal's office. And it only makes matters worse now that he's spending more time with her. I hope you understand what I'll have to do to him if he actually does find out." He continued. He noticed that Nathan had a sad look on his face and picked up on this.

"Look, I get it. You and Ben used to be close, and then that little church mouse stepped into his life and ruined everything you two had. But you shouldn't beat yourself up over it. Instead, you should be mad at him if anything. He thinks he doesn't need you anymore." He said. "And it didn't take long for him to replace you either." He added as he placed a photograph on the desk and showed it to Nathan. It was a photo of Ben and Kate talking and sitting next to each other on a bench at Blackwell near their dorm building. The photo had been taken earlier today.

Nathan only pushed the photo away before he finally spoke. "When do I get to make him suffer?" He questioned with anger in his voice.

"Easy now, kiddo!" The man said as he chuckled. "I want him left unharmed, for now that is. There's just something about Ben Ferris that I admire. So for now, we'll be keeping an eye on him. Both of them, to be exact." He said as he pointed to the photograph.


	14. The Pursuit of Happiness

It was amazing how fast the weekend had already ended. And now, it was already a typical Monday morning and the start of another new week at Blackwell. Kate had already begun her typical routine of waking up early as usual and was finishing up brushing her teeth. After she was finished in the girls' bathroom, she walked back to her room to change into her outfit for the day. As she began to fix her hair and apply her make-up, she removed the towel that she placed over her mirror from two weeks ago. While she looked in the mirror and began to tie her hair, her mind was completely thinking back on the fun filled Friday night she had spent with Ben, Max, Warren, and Chloe. It certainly was a night to remember and something made her hope that it would be the first of many. After going back to her room and changing into her outfit for the day, she threw her red bag over her shoulder and grabbed her books. Kate walked over to Alice's cage and smiled while seeing her pet rabbit taking sips of water.

"See you after school today, Alice." She said happily before walking out the door. As Kate walked down the hall and saw other girls on her floor, slowly leaving their rooms in a state of exhaustion to get ready, she could see Dana, who was wide awake and already dressed. She was standing by the floor's bulletin board where she appeared to be putting up several flyers. Curious as to what each one was about, Kate decided to make her way over and initiate a conversation with the bubbly cheerleader.

"Good morning, Dana!" Kate said in a cheerful tone.

"Oh, hey, Kate!" Dana replied as she briefly jolted. "I didn't even see you there." She said as she yawned.

"You're up pretty early today." Kate analyzed.

"Yeah, I'm just going around putting up some posters to spread the word about what's happening at Blackwell this week." She explained.

"What exactly is going on this week?" She questioned, almost sounding like she felt bad for not knowing.

"Well, for starters, the Drama Club's production of the  _Wizard of Oz_  is this weekend. Opening night is on Friday and tickets are only five bucks." She said.

"Aw, that was one of my favorite movies. I used to watch it all the time." Kate expressed.

"Well then that's even more of a reason for you and Ben to come see the show. Plus, I'm going to be playing the lead role of Dorothy." Dana said.

"Ben?" Kate questioned.

"Uh, yes Ben. I've seen you two hanging out together and I think it's great. Him and I have been friends since the first grade and he's been a sweetheart for as long as I can remember. Sometimes he can hang out with people that don't really suit him. Take some of the other jocks here for instance. But I'm glad that you two have become good friends lately. If you ask me, I think you bring out the best in him."

"Well, it is nice to be spend time with him." Kate admitted timidly. "What are the other posters for?"

"This other one is to let people know that auditions for the Club's spring musical starts today. We're doing  _Little Shop of Horrors_  this year."

"Auditions? That's great." Kate said enthusiastically.

"Kate, are you going to try out?" Dana asked with excitement.

"Oh no. Performing onstage isn't exactly my thing. But I do know that Ben wants to join the Drama Club."

"He does? Yes! Our Drama teacher, Sarah, always talks about how great Ben is in her class. She'll be so hyped when she finds out that he's going to audition." Dana shared. "Also there's one last thing." She added.

"Really? What's that?" Kate asked.

"Preparation for Homecoming!" She said cheerfully as she held up another flyer to show Kate. "The dance is next week Friday and we need all the help we can get. Would you possibly want to join the committee? I love your drawings and I think you'd be a great help with making decorations." She said.

"Well, thanks, Dana. I guess I wouldn't mind lending a hand. I'm sure Ben would be more than happy to help too." She suggested.

"Wait? Doesn't Ben have football practice after school?" Dana asked as she gave Kate a funny look.

"Well... not anymore." Kate said hoping that she wouldn't have to explain the whole situation.

"Oh, shit. I completely forgot about the whole incident with him and Nathan." She said. "In that case, I'll add both of your names to the list. Our first meeting is tomorrow, right after school in the gym." She added as she put the Homecoming poster on the bulletin board.

"I better go check on Juliet to see if she put up the other posters on the boys' floor. Hopefully she didn't make a pitstop at Zach's room." She commented. "I have to go know. Thanks so much, Kate. I'll talk to you later." She said before walking off.

Right after Dana had left. Kate pulled out her phone to take a picture of the posters on the board to show to Ben later. Just as she saved the pictures of them on her phone she saw an unread message from Ben. Though she was more surprised that he had texted her so early in the morning, which wasn't like him.

**_Ben:_ **

**_Good morning Kate! Would you like to grab breakfast at the two whales with me before class? I'm at the pool doing some laps right now._ **

To Kate, seeing that message felt like the start to a great day. Getting to enjoy a big breakfast right before class and hanging out with Ben. Though she figured it would probably be the usual crew from the weekend besides the two of them. Either way, she just felt great that she would be spending more time with Ben outside of school. Excited to meet up with him, Kate walked down the end of the hallway to leave her dorm and head to the school's indoor swimming pool to see him, all while forgetting to respond to his text.

* * *

The morning sunshine was bright enough to illuminate through the windows of the school's athletic building, which housed the swimming pool. For an early Monday morning, the pool area was only occupied by two people. There was the lifeguard on duty, who was on her phone and trying not to look bored, and then there was Ben. He had taken it upon himself to go swimming in addition to his eight weeks of physical therapy to further recover from his injury. He had already swum about ten laps and was finishing one up. As he made his way to the end of the pool, he could see a figure standing at the edge while he was still submerged underwater. As he lifted up his head and reached the surface, he could see that Kate was standing above him.

"Hi, Ben!" Kate said happily.

"Hey!" Ben said.

"I got your text." She replied.

"Oh, yeah. I just finished my last lap anyway." He told her as he climbed out of the pool. "So, I'm guessing that's a yes since you're here." Ben stated.

"Oh, right. I'm sorry I forgot to reply to your text." Kate tried to explain. "I was just excited when I read it and I meant to..."

"It's okay. I'm just glad that you want to go." Ben reassured her.

"I am pretty hungry." She admitted. "Will Max, Warren, and Chloe be there too?"

"Actually, I doubt that any of them are up this early, so I figured that it would just be us." He said as he took his towel and dried his hair.

As Ben wiped his face next, Kate couldn't help but take a peek at his athletic appearance. As she looked over at his abs, she discovered something. Ben had a tattoo on his right side. It was what appeared to be three Chinese letters in black ink. It was as if Kate was just learning more about him each day.

"I'll be ready to drive us to the Two Whales after I shower and get dressed." Ben said as he looked over at Kate. Though she had a very doe-eyed look on her face and didn't respond.

"Um, Are you okay?" Ben asked as he noticed she was still staring at him.

"Oh, yes. Sorry, I'm just a little... distracted this morning, that's all." She explained.

"Okay. I won't take long." Ben said as he walked over to the boys' locker room.

"I'll wait for you outside." Kate said before walking out the doors of the room.

After Kate had waited outside in the front for about ten minutes, Ben had walked out the front doors, already changed into his clothes he planned on wearing for the day. Kate turned around to see him with an eager look on his face.

"Ready to go?" He asked her.

"Ready if you are." She replied.

"Great, let's go grab some food." Ben said. He pulled his car keys out of his pocket and hit the unlock button. His car made a noise to let the two know where it was in the parking lot.

"Race you to your car!" Kate shouted with excitement as she ran down the parking lot to the red Mustang.

"Oh, you're on, Marsh!" Ben called out as he ran after her.

Kate jumped into the passenger seat and buckled up her seat-belt as Ben went into the driver's seat shortly after. He then started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot, ready to head to the Two Whales.

As Ben and Kate arrived at the diner, the two walked in together and found an empty booth to sit at. They both sat across from each other and began to open their menus that were already laying on the table. Kate already knew what she wanted. Pancakes with two slices of bacon and a cup of tea, which was what she usually ordered whenever she went out for breakfast with Max, so there was no point in still scanning the menu. This meant that she would have to find something to talk about with Ben in order to start a conversation. She took a deep breath as she slowly poked her head out of her menu looked at the boy across, who was still looking through his menu, and hoped that she wouldn't make herself look awkward in front of him.

"I didn't know you had a tattoo." Kate brought up.

"What?" Ben asked as he lifted up his head and shifted his gaze to Kate.

"Your tattoo. I saw it when you were getting out of the pool." She stated.

"Oh, that?" He said as he chuckled to himself. I got it over the summer. Chloe talked me into getting one." He explained.

"What is it supposed to be?" Kate questioned.

"It's three Chinese letters. See?" He said as he slightly lifted his shirt so that she could see. "They say strength, passion, and life. It's kinda given me some extra motivation these past few months."

"Well I'm glad you have something to motivate you. Even if you did your lose your faith." She stated.

"So, do have any?" Ben asked her with curiosity.

"Have any what?" Kate asked in reply.

"Come on, you know what I'm talking about. Why else would you bring up my tat in the first place?" He teased as he had a smile on his face.

"Oh no. I would never get one. My mom would absolutely have a fit if I ever got one." Kate expressed as she shook her head.

"So?" He said in a playful manner. "Why should it matter what your parents think. You're an adult now, and that's what's great about being at Blackwell. Being able to make choices on your own, regardless of other people's opinions."

"I know, Ben. It's still somewhat of a learning experience for me since this is the first time I've ever been away from my family."

"You're not the only one. You, me, and pretty much everyone at Blackwell is still trying to find their selves and figure out who they really are now that we live a world with no parents." Ben expressed. "I've got a question for you though."

"And what would that be?" Kate said.

"If you could get a tattoo without anybody stopping you, what would it be.? He asked.

"Oh! Well, I'm not sure, I never really thought about that. Probably my favorite Bible verse if anything. Matthew 11:28.", She said just before she began to recite it. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened..."

"And I will give you rest." Ben finished.

"You still remember it." She said as she smiled with joy.

"Of course, I do. You said it was your favorite, so why would I forget something like that?" He replied while returning a smile.

Just as the two of them were admiring each other's company at that moment, a waitress had walked over to their table to take their orders.

"Mornin' you two." The waitress said happily. "You ready to order?"

"I'm all set." Ben confirmed. "How about you?" He said looking over to Kate.

"I'm ready too." Kate said.

"Alright then. Let's start with you, hon." She said as she smiled at Kate and pulled out a notepad and pen.

"I'll have the pancakes with two slices of bacon please." Kate said politely.

"And to drink?" The waitress replied.

"Spiced orange tea please." Kate added, to which the waitress all wrote down.

"And for you, darlin?" She said, turning her attention to Ben.

"I'll have the Belgian Waffles, with a side of scrambled eggs."

"Tea for you too?" She asked.

"Coffee for me, please." He said with a smile.

"I'll be right back." She said as she left their booth after collecting their orders.

"Tea, huh?" Ben commented as he looked back at Kate.

"It's always my favorite drink to have whenever I start the day. And I've never really been a big fan of coffee." Kate explained.

"You know, it's kinda funny how we've been spending a lot of time together lately, yet we're completely different from each other." He stated.

"You think so?" Kate asked.

"Well, yeah. You like tea, I like coffee. You prefer pancakes while I'm a waffles kinda guy. You're in the Bible Study Club while I'm in... used to be in the Vortex Club. Not that there's anything wrong with that though." He stated.

"I see what you mean. It's really interesting how much opposites can attract." Kate agreed. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you." she added.

"Tell me what?" Ben asked eagerly.

"Dana said that she needs people to join the Homecoming Committee and help get things ready since the dance is next Friday. So, I signed both of us up to help out." She explained.

"Oh." Ben said in a surprised tone. He seemed as if he didn't exactly care much for doing so.

"I know I should have asked you first before throwing your name in. I'm sorry that I..."

"No, Kate, it's okay. I'm glad that you signed us up for it. It'll be good to have something to do afterschool now that I don't have to worry about football anymore. And I'm glad that I already know someone else who's part of the committee." He expressed happily. "So, when do we start?"

"The first meeting is tomorrow after school. I'm not one for school dances, but I'm really excited about this for some reason."

"Yeah, me too." He replied.

"Also, I found out that auditions for the Drama Club's spring musical are being held today too." She mentioned.

"They are?" Ben asked with a bit of excitement in his voice.

"You bet! I even took a picture of the flyer, so you could see when and where they're being held." She said as she pulled her phone to show him the photo of the poster Dana had put up earlier that morning. "So are you going to try out?"

"I... I don't know really." He admitted in a tone that lacked confidence.

"What? But you said you wanted to join the Drama Club ever since you first came here." Kate said.

"I know. It's just that... I've never performed in front of an entire audience before, meaning that I have no experience in theatre whatsoever. What if I just make an ass out of myself up on stage."

"You shouldn't think like that. I know that it might seem a bit nerve-racking for you, but I believe in you." Kate stated. And besides, 'I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.' Philippians 4:13." She added.

"Thanks for the wisdom, Kate. I feel like you always know the right thing to say." Ben replied.

"You know, Ben, if you want, I could go to your audition in the auditorium with you if you're still feeling nervous."

"And stand on the stage with me?" He said with confusion.

Kate laughed upon hearing his question. "No, silly. I mean I'll sit in the audience while you're up on the stage and be kind of like your cheerleader I guess." She said to clarify herself.

"That could work. Maybe we could see if you can borrow Dana's cheer uniform to wear too." Ben teased.

"You wish, Ben Ferris." Kate said as she rolled her eyes and laughed at his suggestion.

The waitress had just returned with a pot of coffee and a pot of tea, pouring them into two white mugs for Ben and Kate.

"I'll be right back with your food, you two." The waitress told them.

"Thank you." They both said to her simultaneously as she went back behind the counter.

Eyeing her hot cup of tea, Kate grabbed the mug by its handle and slowly lifted it up towards her lips taking a sip. She then placed the cup back on the table and smiled.

"How's the tea?" Ben asked her before taking a sip of his coffee.

"Amazing." Kate replied. "How's your coffee?"

"So good." He said after taking a sip and placing it back down on the table.

* * *

It was now the end of the school day and classes came to an end. As Ben heard the bell ring like everybody else, this signified that he would no longer have to listen to Ms. Grant's lecture on Homogeneous and Heterogeneous mixtures. He got up from his desk and collected his books before walking to the door. But before he could leave the classroom, he heard a voice calling out for him from behind.

"Ben, wait up!" The person said eagerly. Ben had looked back to see that it was Juliet Watson coming to approach him.

"Oh, hey, Juliet. I completely forgot to get back to you on a time for when you could interview me for your story on the Vortex Club." He said.

"No, it's not that. It's just that I heard from Dana that you're trying out for the musical." She said as she left the classroom with him.

"Oh! Yeah, I am." He replied.

"You're going to have such a great time!" She said excitedly. "Dana and I have both been in the Drama Club since Freshmen year. Plus, this is Miss O'Dea's second year as Blackwell's newest Drama teacher after our last teacher, Mr. Keaton retired."

"Really? I didn't think Vortex Club members were actually into theatre." Ben admitted.

"You'd be surprised who else has been involved. Hayden's a natural onstage when he's not completely baked. Victoria's auditioned several times but only been an understudy or an ensemble role. Even Nathan's performed a few times, but he eventually quit. He just never seemed like he enjoyed it. And then there was also Rachel."

"Rachel Amber?" Ben asked.

"That's right. She was born to act, Ben. If you got the chance to meet her, you would believe that she was meant to be on Broadway."

"Actually, we kinda did meet once." He replied.

"Wait, how?" Juliet asked while looking over to him with a confused look.

"Chloe Price is a mutual friend, and because of her, I ended up meeting Rachel at some house party a few summers ago."

"Oh, that's right. I forgot how close those two were. To be honest, you don't seem like the type of person to hang out with Chloe." She said.

"Yeah well, looks can be deceiving." He said. Ben was pretty sure that he didn't even seem like the kind of person to hang out with Kate. But why should it even matter after all.

The two of them were now at the doors leading to the auditorium. Ben had immediately stopped in his tracks and took a good look around the hallway. There were several people still hanging around and talking, but Kate was nowhere to be seen. She promised that she would come to the audition with Ben. It wasn't like her to just bail on him. Surely, she must have had a good reason for not being there.

' _Where is she? She said she would be here._ ' Ben thought as he looked around one more time.

Juliet had opened the door and was about to walk in, but she looked behind her to see Ben standing there and scanning the hallway. "Are you coming?" She asked him with a bit of concern in her voice.

Ben turned to face Juliet who was still standing by the door. "Oh, yeah. Sorry, I was just looking for someone." he said nervously as he walked into the auditorium right after her.

' _Okay, Ben. Even if she couldn't make it, you've still got this._ ' He thought to himself while walking towards the stage. As he got closer to the stage, Ben saw his drama teacher, Miss O'Dea, or Sarah as she always preferred, greeting Juliet.

"Hi, Juliet. I'm so glad that you're coming back to be cast in  _Little Shop of Horrors_." She said happily.

"Me too, Sarah. And I brought someone who might be a new addition to the production." Juliet stated while pointing to Ben behind her.

"Ben, you're auditioning too? Oh, this is so exciting!" Sarah said energetically. "Here, we're having everyone read a couple of lines before they sing. Why don't we have you read for Seymour." She said while handing Ben a copy of the script. "Dana, could you read for the part of Audrey, please?"

"Sure thing, Sarah." Dana said as she walked up the stage. Ben also made his way onto the stage while immediately being called out by a group of his friends on the football team.

"Stick to football, Ferris!" Logan shouted mockingly while sitting from the audience.

"Too soon, bro!" Zach replied, who was sitting next to him.

Dana only sighed as she saw Ben fix his attention on the immature athletes while also being able to tell that he was nervous. "It's okay. Just ignore them. They only come here just to heckle everyone." She said. "I've got the first line, so I'll start."

"Okay, lead on." He stated.

Dana had cleared her throat before reading her first line out loud. "I'll bet you've got alotta dates now huh?" She read in her best imitation of Audrey.

"Not dates exactly." Ben read from the script very nervously. "But alotta garden clubs have been calling... asking me to give lectures."

"Ben, could you please speak up a bit when reading your lines?" Sarah asked politely as she found it hard to hear him.

As Ben looked over to Sarah, he could see the door of the auditorium open, to which Kate had walked in. She was trying to discretly find an empty chair to sit in while trying not to disrupt the audition that was currently taking place. As soon as he saw the dirty blonde enter the room, it was as if he felt a sudden boost of confidence hit him.

"Sure thing, Sarah." Ben replied. He took a deep breath and looked at the script again before reading out his line. "Not dates exactly. But alotta garden clubs have been calling... asking me to give lectures." He repeated, this time having more confidence in his voice.

"Gee." Dana read from the script.

"Imagine me, giving lectures. I never even finished grade school." Ben read next in his best voice of what he would imagine someone like Seymour to sound like.

"That doesn't matter. You have life experience." She replied.

"Some experience. I don't even know what it's like to fly in an airplane."

"Me neither."

"Or eat at a fancy dinner at Howard Johnson's"

"Me neither."

"Or ride a motorcycle."

"Oh, it's no big deal. And besides, it's dangerous."

"It is?"

"Extremely dangerous. Gee, I'd better go fix my face. My date'll be here any minute." Dana read.

"And scene." Sarah called out before everyone else let out a round of applause.

"You did great." Dana said to Ben before they walked off the stage.

"Thanks." He said.

"Next, can I have Juliet and Hayden up on stage please." Sarah asked while looking at her list of students auditioning.

* * *

An hour had passed, and everyone interested in being a part of the production had auditioned for a role. As soon as every student was seated, Sarah began to speak.

"Thank you so much to everyone who came out to audition today." Sarah said in her naturally excited voice. "I'll have the full casting list up by tomorrow night and I'll text everyone individually to let them know their part. Have a good rest of the day, everyone. I'm looking forward to working with all of you."

Once she was done delivering her final words, everyone got out of their seats to leave the auditorium and go on about their days. As Ben got up he looked behind him to immediately find Kate, who was sitting in the back of the auditorium. But before he could reach her, he was held up by several of his friends complimenting him.

"Someone call security because you killed it up there, dude." Hayden said as he playfully shook Ben.

"You were so good! I still can't believe you've never acted before." Juliet stated while walking up next to him.

As they all left the auditorium, Ben saw Kate who patiently waited for him in the hallway. He began to walk over to her to thank her for showing her support.

"Hey you!" Ben said happily.

"Hey! Sorry that I showed up late. I got caught up helping Mr. Jefferson with something after class." Kate tried to explain.

"Don't sweat it. You just being there was enough to make that audition less nerve-wracking for me. Thank you!" He replied as stretched out his arms and hugged her.

Kate was caught off guard by his gesture but couldn't help hugging him back and smiling. "You're welcome." She said.

"Hey, Ben!" Dana called from behind them, causing Ben to immediately let go of Kate.

"Um, yeah?" He asked with a hand on the back of his head.

"We're all going to the Two Whales for some milkshakes. Wanna come too?" She asked.

"I think I'm all set, Dana." Ben said politely.

"Are you sure? It'll just be everyone who auditioned today. Which means no Victoria or Nathan." She said.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Thanks for the invite though." He said.

Dana looked over Ben's shoulder to see Kate standing behind him and smiled before she replied. "Okay, see you around then. Good job today!" She said before she walked off to rejoin her other friends.

"You too." Ben replied. He then turned his attention back to Kate.

"You could have gone with them you know. I wouldn't have felt bad if you left." Kate said.

"Yeah, but I didn't want to go with them." He told her.

"Why not?"

"Because, I was wondering if you'd like to go to the park with me." Ben said.

"The park?" Kate questioned.

"Yeah, why not? It's a nice day out anyway." He stated.

"I know, it's just... what would we do exactly?" She asked.

"Well, like my mom always says, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. So I'll guess we'll just have to find out when we get there." He said as he began to walk to the doors leading outside before turning around to look at Kate. "You coming?" He asked.

Kate smiled while holding her books and walked along with him, waiting to see what would await them at the park.

* * *

As Kate and Ben both arrived at Arcadia Bay's park, the two walked along a trail that stretched out between a mass of trees. The fresh autumn air was just the perfect touch to spend a peaceful afternoon in such a beautiful place.

"Are you excited about being a part of the show?" Kate chimed in to start a conversation.

"Yeah. I'm feeling a lot more comfortable knowing that I'm already friends with some of the other members." Ben replied as they kept walking.

"I hope that you get casted. You really deserve it." She stated.

"Thanks Kate, that means a lot." He said.

"So, why are we here anyway?" Kate questioned. After all she still never got an answer as to why she got dragged all the way out to the park.

"Come on, I'll show you." He said confidently while walking the trail. Kate walked behind him, eager to see what he would show her.

"We can take a shortcut if we cut through these trees." He said as he ducked underneath a branch and walked into a woodsy area. Kate trailed behind, hoping that her clothes wouldn't get dirtied or scratched while walking through the trees. Though she had to admit that it was a beautiful scenery, seeing the mass of maple trees around her, some with birds resting atop their branches. She was no more than five feet away from Ben while admiring the atmosphere and happened to see a chipmunk scurrying across a log. While she looked at the small animal, she was unaware of her footing and tripped over a rock. Kate placed her hands out in case she was going to fall, luckily, Ben had caught her by placing both his hands underneath her arms and helped her up.

"I got you." Ben stated as he helped her stand on her feet.

"Thank you." Kate said as she smiled and moved a strand of her hair out of her face.

Still following Ben, she stopped walking as she noticed that he stopped in his tracks and moved a couple of branches in front of him. "This is it." He said with excitement. "Ladies first." He stated as he held out an arm to usher her into the area.

Kate trusted him and walked past the branches, which now lead to an open area. The first thing that she noticed was a playground that included a jungle gym with a slide, a see saw, a sandbox and a swing set. There were even a couple of park benches around too.

"A playground? Kate questioned.

"That's right. This place used to be one of my favorite things about going to the park." He shared. "Let's sit over at the swings." He suggested. Ben and Kate both walked over to the swing set and sat on two empty swings.

"I have to admit, being here does feel peaceful." She said while grasping onto the metal chains of the swing.

"I know right. It really takes me back to happier times too. He'd sometimes take me here to get out of the house whenever our parents started to fight. We'd play catch with each other using his football and he'd even push me while I sat on the swing." He reminisced.

"What was he like?" Kate asked with curiosity. She only hoped that she wouldn't get too personal by asking that question.

Ben hesitated for a few seconds after hearing Kate's question followed by a short sigh. "Honestly, he was everything you could ever want in an older brother. Caring, protective, and always knew how to make you laugh. I'm sure he would have loved to meet you."

"You really think so?" Kate asked while looking over to him.

"Oh, yeah. He was always good at making friends. Knowing him he probably would've been thrilled to meet you since we're both friends, and he probably would've called you his ''lil sis'." Ben shared. "I remember times where I would always follow him around whenever he was with his own friends. I even wore his football Jersey for Halloween one year because I wanted to be like him one day. Sure it drove him crazy, but to me, I did all that because I idolized him."

"I kind of know what that feels like." Kate said. "When my younger sisters, Lynn and Emma where little, they would always try to put on my makeup or even wear some of my dresses. It annoyed me at first, but I just didn't realize that they looked up to me."

"Wow. I guess we're not so different after all." Ben replied.

"I guess not." Kate said as she smiled.

"You know, there's one more thing I want to show you while we're here.

"Really? What is it." Kate asked.

"Well, it's kind of a surprise." He answered. "But first, why don't I give a push on the swing first."

"Alright! Whenever you're ready." Kate said excitedly as she tightened her grip on the two metal chains.

Ben began to give her a gentle push the first few times while he could hear her laugh.

"Come on Ben. I thought that football players where supposed to be strong." Kate teased as he continued to push her on the swing.

"Alright, you asked for it." He replied as he pushed a bit harder, this time having her fly a bit higher into the air. There was no denying that two of them were having fun at this moment. Anyone who would have walked by them would have been confused seeing two eighteen year-olds playing on a swing set, something that seemed a bit too childish for the two of them. But for Ben and Kate, they didn't care at all, because they felt exactly like kids again at that very moment.

* * *

As the sun was beginning to set, the two friends both walked along a wooden boardwalk after taking a shortcut that lead them straight to the beach.

"Here we are." Ben stated proudly as he and Kate continued to walk down the boardwalk together.

"We're at the beach. So what was it that you wanted to show me here?" Kate questioned while looking over to him.

"Don't worry. You'll see." Ben reassured her as he walked with both his hands in his jacket pocket. He suddenly stopped as he saw an ice cream vendor to his left. "Hey, do you like ice cream?" He asked.

"Well, yes. Everyone does?" Kate answered.

"What's your favorite flavor?" He asked.

"I guess I'd have to go with mint chocolate chip." She stated.

"Seriously? That's my favorite flavor too." He replied. "Wait right here. I'll be back."

"Where are you going?" Kate asked. She didn't need an answer however, as she saw him walking over to the ice cream cart and talking to the man standing behind it.

"Excuse me, sir? Can I get two cones with one scoop of mint chocolate chip on both please?" Ben asked the man politely.

"Sure thing, kid." The man happily replied. He pulled out two waffle cones and grabbed a scoop to collect a serving of ice cream for the two cones. "That'll be five dollars." He said.

"Here you go." Ben said as he handed him the five-dollar bill. The man then exchanged the two cones with Ben.

"Thank you." Ben said before walking back to Kate. Kate was perplexed by Ben's actions as he didn't even have to buy her an ice cream in the first place. But at the same time, she couldn't turn down free food, especially if it was her favorite kind of ice cream.

"One mint chocolate chip for you and one for me. Well, I guess if it's one thing we both have in common, it's ice cream flavors."

"I guess you're right. Thank you!" Kate said as she accepted the cone from Ben and took a taste of it.

"This is it. We're right on time too." Ben said as he pointed to the sunset that was out in the distance, hovering right above the ocean.

"Oh, wow. I've never seen a sunset so close before." She mentioned while taking in its alluring appearance.

"Isn't it amazing?" Ben asked. This spot right here is one of my favorite places of Arcadia Bay. Every now and then, I come down here just to watch this sunset. There's just something about it that always makes me come back to it. Even when I'm having a really shitty day, I just take in this view and I get feeling that everything will be alright in the end." He sated.

"Thank you, Ben." Kate expressed.

"It's no problem. I just wanted us to make the most of our time while we're still here." Ben mentioned.

"No, I mean... for everything you've done." She said. "That day when I was on the roof, I couldn't see my own future. I thought there was nothing left for me here." She confessed as she looked out into the sunset.

Ben looked over at her as she noticed she was thinking back to that rainy afternoon again. He thought it wasn't good for her to be revisiting an event like that, but he decided to let her finish what she had to say.

"But I'm glad I didn't jump. Because I wouldn't have gotten to watch movies, eat french fries on pizza, or even have my favorite kind of ice cream with you, the person who cares about me the most." She confessed.

"I'm glad that you're happy, Kate." Ben replied.

"I really am. I know that you might not be as religious as me, but I feel that God sent you to be here for me when I needed you the most."

"Actually, Kate, I think we were meant to find each other." Ben expressed.

The two of them were already done with their ice cream and continued to look out into the sunset while still standing next to each other. At one-point Ben's right hand had lightly brushed against Kate's left hand, but he didn't even realize it. When Kate felt his hand briefly touch hers, it had interrupted her thoughts of how much she enjoyed being in Ben's company. But instead of thinking back to these thoughts, she now realized that she actually  _wanted_  to hold his hand. She looked down, seeing how the back of his hand was brushing against hers again, without him even noticing. She had discreetly wrapped her fingers around Ben's hand while trying to act casual about it as best as she could. However, she immediately began to blush and felt her heart nearly stop when she felt the soft palm of his hand. Kate knew for quite some time now that she had a tiny microscopic crush on Ben, but at this very moment, it was growing. Ben had looked over to see that Kate had her head turned away from him, though it was only to hide her blushing cheeks from him. Ben had developed a goofy smile on his face when he noticed that she was holding his hand. He knew that he was happy being around Kate and that he was in love with her. The only problem was that he just didn't know how to tell her how he felt about her. How he  _truly_  felt about her.

"Kate, there's something I've been meaning to tell you." Ben said.

"Yes, Ben?" Kate said as she looked over at him and let go of his hand.

"Well, it's just that tomorrow night is opening night for the annual Arcadia Bay County Fair."

"They have a County Fair?" She asked.

"Yeah, it always happens this time of the year too. I used to go with my family all the time when I was little, but I haven't been able to go in years after I moved to San Francisco with my Mom." He explained. "Anyway, there's gonna be a ton of rides, games, and fried food that can't be good for anyone. But I was wondering if you wanted to go."

"Do you mean like... a date?" Kate questioned.

"Well, Max and Chloe said they're both going and Warren said he'll be there too when I asked him in class today. So, I figured it would be the five of us hanging out together again." Ben clarified.

"Oh, right." Kate said.  _'What was I thinking? He would never ask me out anyway.'_  She thought to herself.

"So? Do you wanna go?" He asked, still hoping to get an answer from her.

"Oh. Yes, it sounds like it would be a lot of fun." Kate answered.

"Great! So, I'll pick you up at around six tomorrow. Then, we can head downtown for the fair." He said.

"Okay, then." She said while looking out at the sunset.

"Are you ready to head back to Blackwell now?" He asked.

"Not yet, actually. I was hoping that we could stay here just a little longer. The sunset is so beautiful." Kate said.

"Yeah, just like you." Ben said to himself.

Little did he know that Kate heard those exact words come from his mouth, which she had never heard any other boy at Blackwell say about her. At that brief moment, he had just given her confidence in herself, just like how she gave him confidence at his audition earlier today. Each day, Ben and Kate started to realize how inseparable they were, and as long as they were together, no force could tear them apart. The two of them continued to stand right next to each other on the boardwalk, taking in the view that was in front of them.


	15. It's Kind of Like a Date

"Kate?" A voice had called.

"Kate!" The voice had spoke louder, this time causing Kate to become startled. She was in deep thought about everything that had happened with her and Ben after school yesterday, from watching him at his audition to venturing to the beach together. She hadn't even realized that her photography class had ended and that Max was now hovering over her table.

"You were daydreaming." Max observed.

"Oh. I didn't mean to I was just thinking, that's all." Kate tried to explain.

"What are those doodles you've got there?" Max said as she looked over and pointed at Kate's notepad. The page was open contained doodles of two people holding hands along with a ton of hearts everywhere.

"It's nothing, really. They're just... some ideas that I had for an art project coming up." She said, not wanting to admit to Max who they were really intended for.

"Okay? Are you ready to go?" Max asked.

"Sure." Kate replied as she got up and collected her notepad, handbag, and other belongings on the table.

Most of the students left the classroom, but some of them like Victoria stayed back to converse with Mr. Jefferson as usual. After Kate was all set, she and Max left the room and walked through the halls together.

"Are you up for our weekly tea date, today? We missed yesterday because I didn't know where you were." Max said.

"Actually, I think we might have to aim for tomorrow." I have a meeting for Homecoming preparation today. Sorry about that." Kate explained.

"It's no problem, Kate. I didn't even know you signed up for that. I guess you just keep finding ways to stay busy aside from Meals on Wheels and Bible Study." She said.

"I guess so. I decided to join since Dana said that my drawings could probably be used for decorations. Also, Ben is in the committee too." She said.

"So, has he asked you out yet?" Max asked nonchalantly.

"Who?" Kate questioned.

"Aw, come on. You know who." Max teased as she playfully nudged Kate with her elbow.

"Oh, I don't think Ben would. We're just friends. And knowing him, he would probably want to go with someone like Victoria anyway."

"You really think so? After the whole screaming match those two had in the lunchroom last week Friday?"

"I don't know, Max. Ben is really sweet, and I can see why a lot of people here really like him and all, but... why would a guy like him want to go to Homecoming with someone like me?" Kate said doubtfully.

"Because you're sweet, caring, and pretty. In other words, anything a guy could ever want in a girl. Ben might just be another popular face at Blackwell, but he doesn't have his head up his ass like everyone else. He's someone who knows that beauty is more than just someone's face and clothes." Max stated in an attempt to bolster her best friend.

"I guess you're right." Kate said as she smiled and brushed a lock of her hair from her face. "Are you and Warren going? I'm sure the two of you would look cute together." She asked.

"I honestly have no idea, considering the fact he hasn't even asked me out yet. But if neither of the boys ask us out, then I guess we could always go to the dance together." Max said.

"I suppose so. Although I'm not sure if you would want to dance with someone like me though. I'd probably just step on your toes by accident." Kate said. "I have to go get ready for the meeting now. Maybe we could plan a trip to the mall to do some dress shopping before the dance." She suggested.

"Sounds like a plan. See you at the fair tonight!" Max said as she walked towards the main doors of the building.

As Kate continued to walk down the halls, she entered through the big doors of the school gym. As she walked in she, she saw the other members of the committee, who all happened to be members of the Vortex Club. It did make sense that they would be involved since they probably wanted to help their friend Dana. There was something that made Kate feel a bit uneasy about being around these people, the ones who caused her much pain since the beginning of the school year. However, Kate did see that Taylor looked over at her and gave her a friendly smile while waving over at her. Kate slowly walked over to the group while keeping her distance at the same time. All she was wondering right now was where Ben could be."

"Boo!" She heard someone shout loudly behind her, which made her jolt. She quickly turned around to see that it was Ben.

"Geez Louise! Ben!" Kate said sounding slightly mad at him as she lightly punched his arm.

"Ah come on! You gotta admit, I got you pretty good." Ben said playfully.

"Yes, you did." She admitted as she smiled at him. "I wonder what exactly we'll be doing to help put the dance together."

"Yeah me too. I guess where about to find out right now." Ben replied as he pointed over at Dana who was walking up to face the entire group.

"Hey guys! Welcome to the first official Homecoming Committee meeting." Dana said. "As some of you already know, this year's theme is  _Happily Ever After_. As a committee of ten, it'll be our job to work together as a team to create a magical night where every student at Blackwell can feel like a prince or princess. And of course, there's going to be the crowning of this year's King and Queen, which will take place before the clock strikes at midnight, so we can all attend the after-party." She explained. "Unfortunately, Mr. Jefferson, our faculty advisor who will be overseeing the committee, said that he couldn't make it due to another commitment he has this afternoon. But he left me with a list of roles that he assigned to each person." Dana went on to say as she pulled a piece of paper out of her jeans pocket and began to read what was on it. "Juliet and I will oversee publicity, Courtney and Hayden will be designing and selling tickets, lights will be taken care of by Trevor and Justin, Victoria and Taylor, you two will be in charge of the ballot for King and Queen votes, and finally..." Dana briefly paused for a split second before continuing "Oh wow. Ben and Kate, you two have one of the most important roles."

"We do?" Ben questioned in a surprised tone.

"Oh, yes." Dana replied. "It says here that you two will be making the banner, which will be hung up on the night of the dance."

"Oh, Ben, that sounds exciting." Kate said enthusiastically as she looked over to him.

"Alright, guys, you all know your roles. Now let's all have our best attitudes and work hard to transform this gym into something straight out of a story book. Or Disney movie if you prefer." Dana said.

And just like that everyone, went to meet with their partner and get to work in order to put on the dance that was only a week away.

"Alright then, let's go make ourselves a banner." Ben said confidently as he and Kate both walked up to the front of the gym. They both saw the banner lying before them on the gym floor. A complete white canvas, just waiting for the two of them to transmit their creative ideas to it.

"Since you're the artist, I'll leave the drawings up to you. I could work on the font if you'd like me too." Ben suggested as he took a marker and handed another to Kate.

"Actually, I was thinking that maybe we should brainstorm some ideas first. You know, before we put anything to paper just yet." Kate recommended as she politely refused to accept the marker from Ben.

"Oh, right. So, what did you have in mind?" He asked.

"Well, since the theme is  _Happily Ever After_ , I was thinking that maybe we could include some stuff from Disney since most people here grew up watching those movies. I could draw a couple of the princesses like maybe Cinderella, or even Ariel, and maybe Jasmine.

"And don't forget about Belle!" Ben stated eagerly while pointing at Kate.

"Oh, I guess someone else knows their Disney princesses too." Kate teased with a little smirk.

"Hey,  _Beauty and the Beast_  was my favorite Disney movie as a kid, sue me." Ben playfully argued in his defense.

"Fair enough. Have you seen  _Brave_ yet?" Kate replied.

"You mean the one about the curly red-haired girl with the bow and arrow? No, I haven't. Is it any good?" He asked.

"It's more than good, it's amazing! I think we might be due for another movie night."

"We could work something out. I've got no plans this weekend anyway?"

"Me neither." Kate replied.

"So, are you going?" Ben questioned.

"Going where?" Kate asked, sounding confused.

"You know, Homecoming. It's next Friday after all." Ben reminded.

"Oh, right. I don't know yet. I was never too fond of school dances in high school." Kate admitted.

"Same here. The last time I actually had fun at a school dance was my high school prom, just before I found my date making out with my best friend by the end of the night."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Kate said.

"Don't be. My friend apparently got her pregnant that night, so I guess you could say that it was karma."

"I guess you're right. I hope you have a much better time if you do go the dance."

"Thanks, Kate. You should go to, you know. I'm sure that Homecoming is something a lot of students here partake in, not just the Vortex Club."

"I'm not sure, Ben. Besides, every time when I do go to a dance, things always get kind of awkward when it's time for everyone to slow dance." Kate mentioned. "I'm pretty sure we were supposed to be brainstorming stuff to put on the banner before we got side tracked. I just got a couple of ideas too." She said.

"Okay, let's hear it." Ben said.

"So, I was thinking that it would be really neat if we drew Blackwell as a castle and had all of the Disney princesses doing different things around it. You know as if they went here." Kate stated."

"Really?" Ben replied.

"Just as a few examples, we could have Belle reading a book, Aurora sleeping in the dormitory, Tiana cooking something in the lunchroom, and maybe even Cinderella running late to class just for laughs." Kate proposed with a bright smile on her face.

Ben was surprised to see how Kate was giving so many ideas. Before he had even met her he was able to tell that she was generally timid just by looking at her. He had never imagined her to be so talkative for once. He began to believe that he was part of the reason she began to come out of her shell. Still speechless by how much input she was giving into designing this banner, Ben only smiled at her before he gave her feedback on her ideas.

"I like it!" He simply said to her.

* * *

After the Homecoming meeting had ended, Ben somehow managed to find himself at Chloe's house. The two of them took part in favorite pastime of theirs that had bonded over and were currently taking turns smoking out of Chloe's bong.

"Thanks again for letting me come here to toke up with you, Chloe." Ben said as he inhaled the contents and begin to cough a couple times afterwards.

"Anytime, dude. I know you're exciting about all the food that'll be at the fair, so I figured that you wanted to get a case of the munchies before you get there."

"Damn straight! To be honest, this actually might be my last time 'medicating' with you." He said in a sad tone.

"Why? You gotta drug test coming up or something?" Chloe asked.

"No, it's not that. It's just that this is... something I don't want to be around if I'm gonna be hanging out with Kate more often." He answered.

"Aww, you're so cute when you care." Chloe said teasingly as she reached her arm out to Ben and playfully pinched one of his cheeks.

"Hey, quit it! I just don't want her to know that I used to partake in this kind of stuff, that's all." He explained

"I completely understand, dude. So when are you gonna make a move on Kate at the fair tonight? When you two ride the Tunnel of Love together? Chloe mocked as she made kissing noises after.

"Oh haha, you're hilarious. You know, I think Max said that she still doesn't have a date for the dance next week Friday. You should be her knight in shining armor and go with her even if you did get expelled from that place. You'd basically be giving Principal Wells the finger just by showing up." Ben suggested.

"Tempting, but there's no way I'm wearing a dress and heels there. Not my style." Chloe said.

"Fair enough. I'd love to continue our conversation, but I still need to shower and pick up Kate. I'll catch you later tonight Chloe." Ben said as he made his way towards her door.

"Hold up!" Chloe shouted as she began running after him.

"What's up?" He asked.

Chloe began digging in one of her drawers and pulled out a can of spray deodorant just before she began to spray him with it like crazy.

"Chloe, what the fuck?" Ben said angrily before he began to cough uncontrollably in reaction to the fumes.

"Sorry, dude. My step-furher's home and he'll freak if he catches you smelling like bud.

"Good call. I'm pretty sure he's still got it out for me after that whole pissing contest I had with him the other week." Ben theorized.

"Well, I mean you did call him Hillbilly Joe and tell him to shave his mustache, which earns you two more points in my book. See you tonight dude." Chloe said.

Ben walked out of Chloe's room and down the stairs leading to the front door. He could hear the TV going on from the living room. Just as he reached for the door knob, he heard a gravelly voice calling for him from the living room.

"Ben, could I talk to you?" The person said, only for Ben to turn around and see that it was David.

"Uh, sure." Ben replied nervously. He began to walk over to the room to where David was sitting down, with a can of beer in his hand while watching a game of college football on the TV.

"Have a seat." He instructed in a calm voice. Ben did as he was told sitting in a chair a few feet away from the couch David sat in. "Can I get you a beer or anything?" He asked.

"No thanks, I don't drink." Ben said as he tried to play things cool.

"Good answer." David replied even though he knew Ben was lying.

"So, what's going on? Am I in trouble or something?" Ben asked.

"I can't say that you are since I'm off duty right now. But I can say that you've been stirring up the hornet's nest lately." He told Ben.

"You mean with what happened last week in the boys' dorm? I was only trying to do the right thing. It's not like I wanted to make a name for myself by beating down Nathan Prescott." Ben argued.

"Slow it down a bit, kid. Even I think that it was way overdue for that rich little brat to get the crap kicked of him. But you do realize that you just messed with the wealthiest family in Arcadia Bay by doing so right?" David mentioned.

"Yeah, but I'm so sick of the Prescotts always thinking that they can just push people around and get away with it. I worked my ass off over the summer to become captain of the football team and my dad cut me just because Sean Prescott threatened to stop funding the team if he didn't. Do you have any idea how messed up that is?" He argued.

"Look, I get it, you're pissed. You've got every right to be after losing something you valued so much just for helping someone. But you have to understand the position that Nathan's in right in. He wasn't kicked out of the dormitory as a disciplinary action. It was for his own protection since Principal Wells thinks that you and other potential students might try to come after him after he confessed to drugging Kate."

"I don't see anything wrong with that. We'd probably be doing Blackwell a favor."

"The thing is we have done that for the past few years and the boys working security have gotten numerous complaints of him being picked on to the point where he's just snapped and severely harmed other students. And now that there's this whole thing about him with a gun and all I... I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm somewhat concerned for you. I see you walking around campus acting like a bigshot and all but I'm worried you may be in over your head on this one."

"Relax, Mad-Dawg... I mean... Mr. Madsen. I took on Nathan Prescott once, and I can take him again if I have too."

"That's what worries me, Ben. What if you can't. One student almost died this year and it was because I wasn't careful at doing my job. I don't want another one to just because they didn't listen to my advice." David said while shaking his head.

"I appreciate the concern, but I'll be fine. I've been looking out for myself for a long time." Ben got up from the chair and proceeded to walk towards the front door, remembering that he still needed to get ready for the night at the fair.

* * *

**Kate Diary Entry, October 22** **nd** **, 2013**

This is turning out to be such a great week so far. Yesterday, Ben and I got breakfast at the two whales and after school, he took me to the park and showed me an amazing sunset by the boardwalk at the beach. It was just so breathtakingly beautiful that I may have to go back their sometime and bring a book with me. I just finished getting ready to go to the county fair tonight. Ben asked me to go and he said there's going to be a ton of food, rides, and games there. It sounds like it will be so much fun.

I found out today that he's also my partner in the Homecoming Committee. We're going to be making the banner for the night of the dance. I kind of want to go so I can see what people will think of the banner, but I'm not sure how I would feel if I went without a date. It's not that I want to go with someone, it's just that I've heard that some girls have already been asked out by some of the boys. I would like to go with Ben as a friend, but he just doesn't seem that excited about it either. I hope he'll at least make an appearance. It might be fun if he's there too.

* * *

Kate wrapped up her most recent entry and placed her diary back into one of her desk drawers. She got up and walked over to her mirror to take one more look at herself before leaving. She looked perfectly fine, however, it was more of the outfit she was wearing that she tried to feel more confident about.

For tonight, Kate was wearing a tan-colored dress with an orange cardigan over it, and a pair of black flats. She also had her hair tied back into a ponytail instead of tying it into a bun. Just as she felt that she was perfectly dolled up, she heard a knock on her door followed by Ben's voice.

"Hey, it's me!" Ben called out from the other side of the door

"Coming!" Kate yelled as she walked over to the door to open it. To her surprise, Kate saw that Ben was dressed a bit peppier than usual. He had on a blue flannel shirt, black slim jeans, and a pair of wingtips.

"Wow! You look really nice." Ben said in reaction to Kate's new look.

"Thanks! So do you. And you smell good too." Kate replied as she picked up on Ben's scent.

"Oh, thanks. It's a new cologne that I wanted to try out." He said. Though it was more to hide the scent of marijuana that was on him from earlier. "So, you ready to go?"

"I am. Just let me grab my bag." She said as she walked over and grabbed her purse hanging on her chair.

"I hope you worked up an appetite because the first thing we're doing is hitting the food tents when we get there." Ben said excitingly.

"I actually haven't eaten since lunch today, and that's because you told me there'd be a ton of food at the fair." Kate said as she closed her door behind her. The two walked down the hall of the girls' dorm together as they approached the exit, both ready to head to downtown Arcadia Bay.

They left the dorm and made their way down to the student parking lot to get into Ben's car. Once they walked over to his car, Ben hit the unlock button on his car keys and opened the passenger door of his Mustang first.

"After you m'lady." Ben said in a playful upper-class accent.

"Why think you, kind sir." Kate said while giggling at his gesture. "I can't believe they still say that chivalry is dead." She remarked.

"Well, if you ask me, I think that it just needs to be..." Before he even finished his sentence, Ben caught a glimpse of his own dad standing at the rear of Ben's car. He had his arms crossed and a look of disappointment on his face.

"Where have you been?." His dad questioned sternly while eyeing him.

"Around." Ben answered in an annoyed tone.

"Really? Is that why you've been ignoring my texts and calls these past few days? Tryouts for the basketball team were yesterday after school and I heard you weren't there. Why is that?" He asked Ben.

Ben sighed instead of even answering, he knew exactly where this conversation was going to go.

"No, you didn't know because you're constantly revolving your life around that _girl_. He shouted, putting an emphasis on the word "girl" to refer to Kate.

"Could you say that any louder? She's in the car, you know." Ben said in frustration. "And you don't even know Kate. Not like I do."

"All I'm saying, Ben, is that if you just spent a little bit of time away from her, you could have joined the basketball team. They had tryouts after school yesterday and I heard that you weren't there. You could have had the chance to get on the team and keep your scholarship instead of being so head over heels for..."

"I auditioned for the musical!" Ben yelled, interrupting his father's rant.

"You did what?" He asked in confusion.

"I said I auditioned. You knew that I wanted to do it, but you never encouraged me, even when you knew it was my dream. Kate was the only one who showed up to support me." He defended.

Even Kate heard those exact words and it made her feel good about herself, yet bad for Ben at the same time. She had no idea that he and his father had such a dysfunctional relationship. It somehow made her think about the hard times she would occasionally have with her mother or her aunt, but the thought of standing up to them had never crossed her mind.

"I have to go, dad. Kate and I are going to the fair tonight." Ben said as he marched over to the car.

"Ben?" His father said in a more concerned tone as he grabbed onto his own son's arm. "You can talk to me. What's going on between you and Kate? Is she blackmailing you? Is she pressuring you into doing drugs? Why are you always around her? You've changed since the beginning of the year."

"It's because I like her, Dad. And I wish you could see what she's really like. But you just can't." Ben said sounding sad. He shook his arm free of his dad's grasp, opened the car door, and slammed it after he sat down in the driver's seat. He let out a sigh of frustration and Kate looked over at him with a sad look on her face.

"Is everything okay?" She asked as she placed a hand on Ben's shoulder.

"Yeah, just... daddy issues, as most people would call it." He said .

"Ben, if you need someone to talk to, I'm right here." Kate reminded him.

"I know. And that's why I'm glad I met you." He replied while giving Kate a smile. "Let's hit the road, he said as he placed the key into the ignition. He shifted the car into reverse and backed out of the parking spot, leaving Blackwell and heading to the downtown part of Arcadia Bay.

* * *

The drive to Arcadia Bay's downtown part wasn't a long one at all. Ben and Kate made it there in roughly fifteen minutes. As they drove down the road, they both caught a glimpse of the sunset along the shore and the Lighthouse, just before they turned their attention to the actual fair right in front of them. There were a large number of tents set up, which either contained food or games. A few different kinds of rides, some of which looked like they could break down at any moment, were already populated with people ready to get on them.

It had been a long time since Ben had been to this fair. He knew how it was a way to bring families and friends together. However, things had changed about this annual event over the years. There was a small parade that involved groups like the Blackwell football team, cheerleaders, and marching band. There was a few of the more important faces of Arcadia Bay that made an appearance, including the mayor and even the Prescott family.

As he and Kate both stepped out of the car, they were completely mesmerized by the sight of the bright lights.

"Okay?" Ben said out loud.

"What's wrong?" Kate asked as she walked up next to Ben.

"Nothing. It's just... this all looks a lot different from what I remember."

"It looks so pretty." Kate stated as she observed. "Do you smell that?" She asked while looking over at Ben.

"Yeah, I do. Whatever it is, it smells really good." Ben said.

"I think that's our cue to go get some food." Kate insisted.

"Sounds like a plan." Ben happily replied. The two of them began to walk towards the fair together, trying to find the nearest source of food possible.

On their walk, they could see many familiar faces of other students at Blackwell as well as families with younger children. There was even a local band playing that could be heard as well. Suddenly Ben and Kate both noticed that they had entered a large area filled with picnic tables and a tent with a large line in front of it.

"Ben, look! Food." Kate said with excitement as she pointed at the tent.

"Yeah, I see it too. What do you want? I'll go get us something to eat." He replied.

"Ben, you don't have to. You already paid for my breakfast yesterday." Kate said as she grabbed Ben's arm before he could walk off.

"Ah come on, Kate. I don't expect you to buy the food for both of us." Ben argued.

"Well, I guess there is one way we can settle who buys the food." Kate suggested.

"Really? How?" Ben questioned with a confused look on his face.

"We'll play each other for it." Kate said confidently.

"Play each other? Like one on one? Right now?" Ben chuckled.

"Sure, we'll just play a game of rock, paper, scissors. This is how my sisters and I would always decide who did which chores to do. The loser has to buy the food." She said.

"Okay. Let's settle this, then." Ben said as he placed out his hand.

"Ready?" Kate asked him.

"I'm ready when you are." Ben stated.

"ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS, SHOOT!" They shouted together with enthusiasm like two children who were best friends. And at the sound of the word  _shoot_ , they both revealed what they decided to draw. Ben drew rock but Kate on the other hand, drew scissors.

"Aw shucks! You beat me. Looks like I have to buy the food." Kate said in a sarcastic tone. "So, what do you want me to get you?" She asked while smiling at him.

Ben sighed and gave in before answering her. "Two corn dogs and a pepsi please." He said politely.

"I'll be right back. You can find somewhere for us to sit together though." Kate said before she left to get into the line.

"You got it." Ben said. He saw a few empty tables and walked over to the one that looked the cleanest. He sat down and watched Kate standing in the line and observed how beautiful she looked. He wanted to surprise her be dressing up nicely for a change, but had no idea that she would dress up too for an event like tonight, not that she wasn't always dressed nicely in everyday.

"Oh, look who it is." A voice called out, which Ben had recognized. He didn't want to look around to find where the voice came from, but his curiosity got the best of him and he then wished that he hadn't looked.

Before he could turn his head to see who was behind him, Ben was already surrounded by Victoria, along with Taylor and Courtney on both of her sides. ' _aw shit_!' Ben thought to himself as he now felt like he was circled by three vultures eager to have a snack in front of them.

"Hey, Ben!" Victoria said as she sat on the table right in front of Ben and crossed her legs. You look good in plaid." She commented while slurring her words. It was clearly obvious that she was drunk.

"Hey, Vic." Ben replied in a completely disinterested tone as he tried to avoid making eye contact with her.

"You're still not mad at me, are you?" Victoria questioned as she picked up on Ben's body language. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm sorry I was such a bitch to you last week at lunch. I just hate it when people hurt Nathan. You of all people should know that he's like a brother to me." She stated.

"Apology accepted." He replied quickly. "You've been at the beer tent, haven't you?" He observed as he saw her swaying on the table and holding a clear cup filled with a brown liquid in it.

"Well obvi! That's what my fake ID is for, silly. Have some." She said while holding her cup toward Ben's face.

"No thanks. I'm driving tonight." Ben said as refused her offer.

"Isn't he cute when he tries to act responsible?" Victoria teased as she looked over at Taylor and Courtney.

"If you ask me, I think it's because he's trying to be a good boy for someone in particular." Courtney chimed in.

"Oh yeah, why else would he be wearing cologne to a fair." Taylor added.

"Ben Ferris, do you have a little crush on Kate Marsh?" Victoria asked dramatically in her intoxicated state. "I thought you were still chasing after me all this time." She said as she playfully booped Ben's nose. "Didn't I ever tell you guys about Ben's little love letter that he wrote me?"

"You didn't, but I want to know now." Taylor answered.

"Sure, let me just pull it out, then." Victoria said as she pulled out her phone and searched through her older messages.

"Come on, Victoria!" Ben said to her a bothered tone. He was clearly not in the mood for any of her games, especially on a night for tonight.

"Oh, no. You're not getting yourself out of this tough guy. Here it is she said excitedly just before she pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and cleared her throat. "Victoria, we've known each other for a couple of weeks now and there's something I've wanted to tell you for a while. I want you to know that I think you're gorgeous and amazing. I know this sounds so corny and I hate myself for not working up the courage to tell you this in person, but that night that when I met you changed everything for me. You didn't just convince me to join the Vortex Club, but you made my  _first time_  so special. All I want is to spend as much time as I can with you at Blackwell." Victoria finished reading.

"First time? You mean Ben, the player, was a virgin before he even set foot at Blackwell. Now that is scandalous." Courtney said.

"He could have fooled me when we hooked up after one of the Vortex parties. I guess you really made sure he was fully experienced before us other girls got to him, Victoria." Taylor commented giving a flirty glare over at Ben.

"You know, Ben. I know how you feel about Kate and all, but if you ask me, I think you need more of woman's touch. I'll reconsider it and give you a chance if you do me a little favor. And by that, I mean you'll take me to Homecoming, so you can boost my chances of getting crowned Queen. I mean, I've only wanted to win it since my freshman year."

"No!" Ben answered.

"What?" Victoria slurred as she sounded offended.

"The way I felt about you in that text was a while ago. Before I even got the chance to meet Kate. And a lot's happened these past few weeks. Sorry, Victoria, but I think you should find someone else to take you."

"Fine, Ben, be that way." Victoria hissed. "But you should know by now that I always get what I want." She warned.

Just then, Kate had returned with a full tray of food containing four corn dogs, a large order of fries, and two large sodas. As she approached the table, she was confused as to why the three girls were hovering over Ben.

"Oh, hey, Katie." Victoria greeted in a more pleasant tone.

"Hi, Victoria. Are you okay, you don't look so good?" Kate replied as she observed Victoria's state of intoxication.

"Who? Me? I'm perfectly fine. Enjoy your date, you two. And Ben, remember what I said." Victoria said before walking off with her two followers.

"What was that all about?" Kate asked.

"They just came over to give me a headache." Ben remarked. "Thanks for the food though." He said.

"You're welcome. Now come on, let's dig in." She said as she handed a corn dog and soda to him.

"You're the boss." Ben said as he accepted the food from her.

* * *

As the two of them had just about finished up their meal of fried food and felt stuffed, they were approached by Max and Chloe who finally made it.

"What's up you two?" Chloe asked as she plopped down and went for some of the remaining fries.

"We just finished eating, actually." Ben stated. "No Warren tonight?" He asked noticing that one particular person from the friend group.

"He couldn't make it. He got held up with a lab report for his physics class." Max replied.

"Ouch! A moment of silence for our dear friend Warren. Hopefully he's got Brooke to keep him company." Ben joked.

"So, do you guys want to go venture around with us?" Max asked.

"Yeah, Max and I were thinking of riding the Sky Plunge. They say you can see all of Arcadia Bay just before you make the epic 300 feet drop." Chloe said.

"I'm not sure. I'm not really too big into those kinds of rides." Kate admitted.

"I actually might be out on this one too. Considering I just ate two corn dogs a large soda, and split a large order of fries with Kate, it could be puke central for me."

"Ew, Ben!" Kate said in a grossed-out manner.

"What? It's true." Ben argued.

"Suit your selves. We'll catch you guys after then. Come on Max." Chloe said.

"See you two later." Max said before walking off to catch up to Chloe.

"So now what do we do?" Kate asked as she looked back over to Ben.

"Well, I did hear there was a petting zoo around here. If you're up to do some exploring." Ben mentioned

"A petting zoo? Really?" Kate said with excitement as her eyes lit up.

"Yeah, I'm not sure exactly where it is but we could go find it together." He said.

"Okay, let's go." She said as they both got up together to venture off into the fair.

"Chloe seems a lot happier than usual." Ben brought up.

"She does. I think it's because she's been keeping herself in good company lately." Kate replied.

"Actually, I think it's because Max is back in Arcadia Bay. Those two go way back, you know." Ben mentioned.

"Oh, that's right. I remember her telling me about how they were best friends before she moved to Seattle. Either way, Chloe deserves to be happy." She said.

"Doesn't everybody?" Ben asked rhetorically to agree with Kate.

"And what about you, Ben. When was the last time you felt happy?"

Ben knew what he wanted to say, but he had to pause and smile at Kate before answering her. "Yesterday." He told her. "And you?"

"Ben, you don't have to worry about me. Whenever, I'm around you, I feel so alive." She shared.

"I'm glad you feel that way. I love seeing you smile." He said as he reached for Kate's hand, and held it for as long as he could.

The two of them were already at the makeshift petting zoo, which was mostly accompanied by small children. The pens contained a variety of animals from sheep and goats to chickens and hens.

"Hey, Ben?" Kate asked.

"Yeah?" He replied.

"Will you take my picture with that goat over there please?" She asked shyly.

"Of course. It's an honor to take a picture of the amazingly beautiful Kate Marsh." Ben said as he took her phone for her. He watched her as she walked over to the wooden fence that separated her from a baby goat. She reached out her hand to pet him on the head as she looked back to Ben, who was holding her phone and ready to take her picture.

"And smile!" He said just before taking a picture of her. "Is this the first time you've had someone take your picture before? Because you seem like a natural." He complimented.

"Actually, I don't think I ever have." She answered as she took her phone back from Ben. "There's one more that I'd like to take."

"Do you want me to take it for you?" He asked.

"That's alright. I've got this one." Kate said as she extended her arm out to the sky with her phone in her hand. The camera of the phone was now facing her and Ben as they both smiled for a selfie together. "We look cute together." She said happily.

"Yeah, we really do!" Ben agreed. "So where do you want to go next?" He asked.

"I'm not sure. I'm just glad to be walking around while we burn some calories from our greasy dinner." Kate mentioned.

"Step right up folks and test your aim!" A voice nearby shouted.

Ben and Kate both looked around to see that the voice was coming from a man at a tent. He was trying to get the attention of people at the fair to come over to his game tent to play a game that resembled some sort of shooting gallery.

"That's right shoot the cans off the shelf and win a prize of your choice." The man announced proudly.

"I forgot about these games they use to have here. There such a rip-off though. My dad practically spent twenty bucks to win me a stuffed bear when I was little." Ben told Kate.

"How about you there, young man? Test your aim and win a prize for your lady." He said as he pointed at Ben and noticed Kate with him.

"Me? She's not my... well we're together, but..." Ben tried to explain.

"Just try it, Ben. Who knows you might be a pro at it." Kate encouraged.

"I guess so." Ben said as he walked up towards the tent. "How much to play?" He asked the man.

"That'll be five dollars, sir!" He said.

' _It's the least I can do after Kate bought my food_.' Ben thought to himself as he pulled a crinkled five-dollar bill out from his wallet and handed it to the man over the counter. "So know what?" He asked.

"All you have to do is shoot those five cans on that shelf." He explained as he handed an airsoft rifle to Ben and pointed to the cans for him to shoot. "If you hit each of them, then you get to choose any prize of your liking."

"Alright, sounds easy enough." Ben said as he took aim at the first can. He had his right eye closed and his grip tightened on the gun. Ready to shoot, he slowly pulled the trigger and heard the sharp bang from the gun while watching the tin can fall over.

"Nice shot, Ben." Kate called out while standing behind him.

"Thanks" He replied while looking back at her.

"Only four more to go." The man said.

' _You've got this, Ben._ ' He thought as he focused on the next can. He lined up his shot as neatly as he could. Another direct hit. Onto the next can. Bang! A clean shot. The fourth can was nowhere to be seen shortly after Ben pulled the trigger, and the same could be said for the final can after Ben had it in his sights.

"You win!" The man shouted with excitement. "So, what'll your prize be?"

"I think I'll let her decide." Ben said as he looked over at Kate.

"Right!" What'll it be miss?" He asked Kate, who was eyeing the selection of prizes hanging from the tent's ceiling. The prizes ranged from giant stuffed animals and "Hot Dawg Man" plushies to inflatable baseball bats and footballs. But Kate knew exactly which prize she wanted the moment she set her eyes on it.

"I'll take the rabbit, please." Kate said as she pointed to a life-sized stuffed rabbit. The man reached for the toy and handed it to Kate who wrapped it around her arms. "Thank you, sir!" Kate said with a wide smile of joy on her face.

"You're very welcome, miss! Enjoy the rest of your night you two!" He called out as the two of them began to walk off.

"Looks like Alice will have another roommate now." Ben joked as he poked the head of Kate's new stuffed animal.

"I suppose so. And Lewis here owes it all to you." Kate said.

"Lewis? Is that what you're naming him?" Ben asked.

"Of course, after Lewis Carroll. You know, the author of  _Alice in Wonderland._ " She said.

"Oh, right!" He said.

"Anyway, I was surprised at how good you could shoot." Kate brought up.

"Yeah, about that, my Dad and I use to go hunting with my Grandpa every now and then."

"You didn't kill any animals, did you?" Kate asked with worry in her voice.

"Actually... I shot a baby deer once." Ben admitted while not sounding proud.

"What?" She questioned while sounding offended.

"I didn't want to do it. My Grandpa kept yelling at me to shoot it. Trust me, Bambi was my favorite movie growing up so you know that I cried for weeks after it happened." Ben protested.

"Then why did you do it?" She asked.

"Trust me, Kate, when your Grandad's a Vietnam War veteran who earned an honorable discharge, it's probably best to do what he says." Ben tried to explain.

"Oh, I didn't know. I'm sorry you were forced to do something like that." Kate expressed.

"You don't have to be sorry for me. I feel like things will finally be different for me now." Ben said confidently. "You know, Kate, this might seem kind of last minute but I was wondering if..."

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER YOU CREEP!" A female voice shouted that was loud enough to be heard from the entire downtown portion of Arcadia Bay.

"Who was that?" Kate asked.

"I don't know. That didn't sound good though." Ben said.

"Ben, look over there." Kate said as she pointed at what appeared to be two girls confronting Nathan Prescott.

"I was just getting her a soda that's all." Nathan explained in an apologetic voice.

"So you can drug her like you did to Kate? Is that It?" one of the girls questioned him.

"No! I'm only trying to..."

"Save it, Nathan! Everyone knows it's why Ben Ferris beat the ever-living shit out of you in the first place. You're just the same spineless loser you were from Freshman year. Come on, Morgan let's go." She spat at Nathan before grabbing her best friend's hand and storming off.

Nathan was left in a state of confusion which soon transformed into rage the second he saw Ben and Kate standing at a safe distance from him.

"You!" Nathan shouted as he began approaching them.

"Kate, get behind me." Ben instructed for her own safety.

"You did this to me, Ferris!"

"I didn't do anything to you."

"Bullshit, you backstabbing motherfucker! You humiliated me and now everybody hates me. They all hate me and it's your fault!" Nathan said as he lifted up the cup of soda that was meant for the girl and hurled its contents straight into Ben's face.

Ben was obviously furious now that he was doused in soda, but something told him not to fight back. Not in front of Kate and everyone else attending the fair.

"What? You can't fight back all of a sudden. Probably because the virgin Mary has you on a leash right now." He taunted, which resulted in Ben grabbing him by his white dress shirt and pulling him close to his face.

"I thought I told you to leave Kate out of this." He reminded him as he stared deep into his eyes.

"Take your hands off my son this instant!" A more older and stern voice called out from behind Nathan.

Ben only had to look up to see that this man was obviously Sean Prescott, Arcadia Bay's wealthiest benefactor, owner of the Prescott Foundation, and Nathan's father. Ben did as he was told and released his grip of the arrogant rich brat as he could see the cold look of Mr. Prescott's face.

"Nathan, go to the car. You've already caused a scene and embarrassed me in public with another one of your so-called tantrums." Nathan's father instructed him.

"Dad, I can handle this. He's gonna pay for what he did to me..."

"Get to the car now and wait for me. And don't ever speak to me like that again." He said as he raised his voice at his son.

"Yes, sir." He said in a faint voice. Before walking away, he glared at Ben with a menacing "I'm going to kill you!" look in his eyes.

"So, you're Benjamin Michael Ferris." He observed. "I've heard your name come up more than enough times these past few weeks." He said.

"It is a catchy name after all." Ben joked.

"I'm not sure what you find so funny about this. I'm sure you'd like to know the situation you're in after you had the audacity to beat my son to an inch of his life." He stated. "And you?" He said as he turned his attention over to Kate. "I'm quite familiar with you as well, Ms. Marsh. Thinking that you can accuse my son of such heinous acts only because you can't hold yourself accountable for your own actions." He said as he began to approach her.

"No, I was telling the truth." Kate said nervously.

"The truth? My son has no intentions of harming other students. Now I expect you to admit the truth." He told Kate in a stern demeanor. However, Ben shifted over to block his view of her before speaking out against the man.

"Why don't you get your fat ass away from her! This is between you and me, Scrooge." Ben warned him.

"Is this how you speak to betters, boy? Is this how you speak to a man of my position?" Sean Prescott shouted at him.

"Man, screw your position. I'm so sick of you and Nathan thinking that you can push people around whenever you please. Like my Dad, who kicked me off the football and caused me to lose my athletic scholarship I worked my ass for, all because of you. You act like you want to have a positive impact on Arcadia Bay, but you're just lying to everyone. In fact, you're no better than Nathan!" Ben shouted as he faced Sean Prescott. This only caused Ben to meet Mr. Prescott's backhand, as his arm violently swung into Ben's face, causing him to wince.

Being an athlete, Ben had taken harder hits, but Sean Prescott wore a ring on the hand which he struck him with. It had split open part of Ben's bottom lip, causing him to draw blood.

"I suggest you learn to watch your tone when speaking to me. And don't ever compare me to my spineless embarrassment of a son ever again. He'll never amount to the type of man I am if he continues to allow a worthless bastard like you to walk all over him." He said. "I'm not done with either of you. I'll be seeing the two of you very soon for your inevitable expulsion from Blackwell." He warned the two of them just before walking away.

"Are you okay?" Kate asked with concern as she walked over to look at his face.

"Yeah, it's only just a cut." He reassured her as he felt the wound with his finger.

"I can't believe he would do that to you." She said with a hint of anger in her voice.

"You mean when I got 7up thrown on me by the asshole or when I got pimp slapped by the bigger asshole?" Ben said which made Kate giggle.

"Come on, let's find something to dry you off." Kate suggested as he grabbed Ben's hand and lead him to a table of condiments which also contained some napkins.

"That was really brave of you to stand up to someone like Sean Prescott. I heard that he funds the school's arts program." Kate brought up while taking a handful of napkins from the holder.

"Yeah, and most of the school's athletics program too. But that doesn't change the fact that he's just a bully who abuses his power. At least we both know where Nathan gets it now." Ben said as took some napkins from Kate and used them to dry off his face.

"Ben, do you really think we'll both get expelled. The Prescott family has so much influence and after what just happened..."

"We won't get expelled. He's just saying that to get us worried. And even if we do, I guess we could live our lives as two dropouts who wrote a bestselling kids' book."

"It sounds tempting, but let's not test our luck." She said as she lightly dabbed a wad of napkins on his bottom lip where the cut was. "I know you and Nathan haven't been on good terms in a while, but why did he call you a backstabber of all things?" She asked.

"It's... it's because he looked up to me when we first became friends. He practically confided in me." Ben answered. "We're both kinda similar considering that both of our parents are divorced." He stated.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I never knew that about him." Kate said.

"No one really does. He's dealt with abandonment issues along with all of his other problems. The worst part is that his dad blames him for his mom leaving them." Ben explained.

"That's awful." Kate added.

"You're telling me. Even if we've both been through our own personal hells when growing up, I learned how to show love and compassion for everyone. Not to bully and hurt people." He stated.

"And I've seen that about you. And even if someone like Nathan will keep pushing you away and attacking you, there's only so much you can do for him." She said,

"That's alright, I've actually given up on him a while ago. The way I see it, he just can't redeem himself."

"You don't know that about someone, Ben. You told me your story about how reckless you were in high school before you even came here. And now you've changed so much. I'm not trying to sound like I'm against you, but just promise me that you wont stoop down to Nathan's level. You had me worried with how you man handled him."

"I promise." He said just before looking up. "Hey check it out. They've got a Ferris Wheel."

"Wow, Ben. I didn't know that they named a ride after you." Kate playfully teased.

"Wait, did you just make a joke? I knew I was becoming a good influence on you." Ben replied.

"Let's go ride it. There's barely a line anyway." Kate said as she grabbed Ben's hand and tried to get to the ride quickly as possible. Being the first ones in line, they were welcomed by a less than enthusiastic ride attendant who opened the gate for them. The two of them approached the next car of the Ferris wheel that had lowered down. It was one of those old-fashioned Ferris wheel cars that looked like a bench with a bar that was lowered down to make sure people riding it were safely harnessed.

Kate sat down on the far end and placed her stuffed animal Lewis next to her as Ben sat down on the other end. The ride attendant walked over and lowered the bar for them.

"Enjoy the ride." The attendant mumbled under his breath before walking away.

After a few seconds, Ben and Kate both felt the car they were sitting in begin to move backwards and shortly after, they were ascending to the very top of the ride. Once they were up in the air, they were able to get a complete Birdseye view of all of Arcadia Bay. The town wasn't famous for having amazing nightlife to that of cities like Seattle or Los Angeles, but a night like tonight made it all worth coming to this annual event, just to experience this exact moment.

"What do you think?" Ben asked as he looked over at Kate.

"This is amazing! We should do this next year." Kate replied.

"Yeah... Yeah, we should." Ben said in a voice that made him sound uncertain.

"You'll still be in Arcadia Bay after you finish school at Blackwell, right?" Kate asked him. "I'm still not sure what my parents' final decision will be on letting me come back after the whole 'you know what', but Max and I are both applying to get into Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland. I just sent out my application today. What about you? Have you applied to any schools with Drama programs?"

"No, I haven't. I'm still not really sure what I want to do after graduating from Blackwell." He told her.

"Oh, I didn't know you were still undecided. I'm sure you still have time to decide though." Kate said.

Ben knew exactly what he wanted to do and where he wanted to go. The problem was that he didn't want to admit to Kate that he wanted to go to a school like Carnegie or NYU after she said that she planned to go to an art school in Portland. The instant thought of being so far away from Kate after all the time they had spent so far was enough to make his stomach churn. He then thought about taking a year off from school and working at his uncle's carpentry company year-round while possibly looking for a second job to work part-time. Then he could possibly drive up to Portland on some weekends to visit Kate. Either way, this was all beginning to make him flustered and he figured that for now, it was just best to enjoy the moment that he was currently in with Kate, along with Lewis being the third wheel, and see how the rest of their night would play out.

After their ride on the Ferris Wheel together, Ben and Kate were now taking a walk around the fair together while sharing a large helping of cotton candy that Ben volunteered to buy for the two of them, in return for Kate buying their dinner. As they were walking they were also playing a friendly game of "Would you Rather" together.

"Okay, so life without the internet or life without AC or heating. What's it gonna be." Ben asked.

"Well, I don't really spend a lot of time on the web as is so life without the internet would be okay for me." Kate answered as she grabbed a small piece of cotton candy from Ben. "My turn. Would you rather have the ability to fly or talk to animals?" She asked before she ate her cotton candy.

"That's easy, talk to animals. Then Alice and I could have some pretty neat conversations. I could always be a translator for the two of you also." He answered.

"Wow, good thinking." She said.

"There you guys are." Said Max, who was with Chloe. "Chloe and I were wondering where you two went."

"We've just been exploring and eating our own weight in food." Kate said as she took another piece of cotton candy for herself.

"And winning some prizes too. That's a hella big rabbit." Chloe observed as she eyed the stuffed animal Kate held in her right arm.

"Oh, this? Ben won it for me at the shooting range." Kate said.

"Well if they're giving away prizes like a giant bunny, I wonder what else there is to win. Come on, Max, let's see if I can win you something." Chloe stated.

"Sure thing, maybe you can try the 'Test Your Might' game they have and see how close you can get to hitting the bell." Max teased.

"Hey, I may not have guns like Ben over here, but these arms can still do some wonders. Kate, Ben, you two wanna come with and watch me impress Max or make a fool of myself in front of her?"

"Actually, I was thinking about heading back to Blackwell now if that's okay with Kate." Ben said.

"Sure, Max and I can give you some space to figure things out. I can always give you a ride back to 'Blackhell' with Max if you want to stay with us Kate." Chloe said.

"Thanks, Chloe." Kate said. "Is everything okay?" She asked looking over to Ben."

"Yeah, I wanted to go to back to Blackwell for a reason." He said.

"Really? What for?" Kate asked.

"Well, to be honest it's kind of a surprise for when we get back. You do trust me right?" He asked.

"Ben, I've known you long enough to know that you're kind, caring, and protective. You've already earned my trust." She stated.

"Thanks, Kate." He replied.

"You're welcome. And besides I'd say that tonight felt a bit like a date judging how everything went." She added.

"Oh, well I..." Ben said nervously.

"It's alright, Ben. I had a great time and I'd like to do something like this with you again." Kate said.

"You got it!" He said.

"So, lead the way." She said.

And just like that, they were on their way back to Ben's car, so that they could drive back to Blackwell in order for Kate to see this surprise Ben had for her.


	16. Downfall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back from my way-too long hiatus. Sorry to keep you waiting everyone. Enjoy!!

**Chapter 15: Downfall**

"Here we are!" Ben said confidently as he cautiously pulled into the empty parking lot at Blackwell.

"Um, Ben? This isn't the dorm. This is where the swimming pool is." Kate pointed while sitting in the passenger's seat.

"I know." He replied as he shut off the ignition in his car. "I figured we could go for a late-night swim to get some exercise after all that food we ate back at the fair."

Ben was the first to step out of the car. He took a good look around to make sure there was no sign of any security guards. After a few seconds, Kate also stepped out to join him.

"Aren't you a little worried that someone might catch us wondering around here? It's past curfew and we could get in a lot of trouble if we get caught." Kate brought up.

"I wouldn't be too worried. Hayden told me that security usually doesn't bother sticking around here on nights like tonight." He told her.

"Really? Why's that?" She asked.

"Because they assume that most students are at the fair tonight. And the one's who think that they're too cool to go usually just stay inside their rooms all night." He explained.

"Well, in that case, I'm fine as long as we don't get caught." Kate stated.

"Which we won't. I thought that you would have a little more faith in me." Ben teased.

It was quite surprising that nobody had locked the doors to the building which housed the pool. Because of this, Ben and Kate had easily walked in while peering around the main entrance to make sure that the coast was clear.

"I guess I'll see you on the other side." Ben said before walking off to enter the boys' locker room.

"Wait, where are you going?" Kate asked him before he could even leave her sight.

"To change in the locker room. It's probably not the best idea to go swimming in our nice clothes we've been wearing tonight." He explained jokingly. Ben felt perfectly fine with using sarcasm around Kate as he could tell that she was used to his sense of humor with her being around him so much.

"If I knew we were going swimming, I would have packed a bathing suit with me." She said in a tone that signified that she didn't have anything to change into.

"No worries, Kate. Just do what I'm doing and go swimming in your under wear." Ben suggested. It was a bold move to tell that to a girl, but there weren't many options that Kate had when they were already at the pool and nowhere close to the dorm for her to grab a bathing suit. "I've got an extra towel in my locker that you can use though." He added.

"Thanks, Ben. I won't be long." Kate said as she walked into the girls' locker room on the other side.

Inside the Boy's locker room, Ben began to think to himself as he stood in front of one of the empty lockers while he began to undress. ' _Is this it? Is this where I tell Kate how I feel about her. That I... love her._ ' He thought to himself. Even if he found out that Kate felt the same way about him, how far would their relationship even go? Sex was obviously out of the question, but could they still kiss? Could they even lay next to each other in a non-sexual manner? And even if they did begin dating, how exactly would Kate's parents react to her having a boyfriend. Especially one who once had the reputation of a partier that was sleeping around with other girls at Blackwell. Thinking about all of this was making his head hurt and he figured getting in the water would help him take his mind off things. Now wearing nothing but his navy boxers, he grabbed the two towels from his locker and walked out of the door leading to the swimming pool.

The large room where the pool was held was filled with darkness, though the full moon shone through the ceiling windows, providing a doable amount of light. Still Ben knew that he and Kate would practically be swimming in the dark if nothing was done about it. Which was why he had a key on him to get into the offices of the school's athletic team coaches. Surprisingly enough, Ben still had a spare key with him, which was given to the captains of the football team for special cases. Luckily, it was the only item that he didn't return after he was recently kicked off the team.

After opening the door to the offices, he flicked on the light switch and then searched for a panel on the wall that turned on the pool's lights. And with just the press of a button, the pool was completely illuminated. "Now, we're in business." He said to himself.

As he walked out of the office and along the side of the pool, he was now reunited with Kate, who was certainly right about not having a bathing suit to wear. She was only in a light blue bra and matching colored panties. She had her arms crossed, though it was more likely due to the fact that she felt uncomfortable instead of being cold.

Ben tried his Best to be respectful by doing his best to make eye contact with her. However, he couldn't resist taking a brief glance of her body and seeing the she looked good. While she was petite, Kate's stomach showed that she had some abs, not belonging to a body builder or anything, but it did look like she exercised occasionally. A girl like her most likely did some running or swimming on her free time. He noticed that she also had long and slender legs which was already obvious from how she always wore skirts. Finally, he noticed the size of her breasts just before making direct eye contact with her. Kate was in no way flat-chested but she wasn't busty either. In fact, she appeared to have a slightly larger size than most girls Ben had hooked up with. ' _Is it just me, or does Kate have a bigger rack than Victoria Chase?_ ' Ben thought in his head, though he felt awful for thinking something so vulgar, but it only added to the fact that Kate wasn't just beautiful on the inside, but also drop-dead gorgeous on the outside from head to toe. She practically looked like she could have been a bikini model if she wanted to.

"So, I was just thinking," Kate said while walking over to the pool, "since we're probably two of the very few people on campus right now and you were so eager to come here, I'm getting the feeling that you either really wanted to get some exercise from all the food that we ate or you just wanted to see me in my underwear." She said with a frown on her face.

"Oh, well. Actually, It just that..." Ben tried to explain in his defense.

"It's okay Ben, I'm only teasing." Kate reassured him after letting out a playful giggle. "I've known you for quite some time to know that you wanting to see me like this isn't true. So, is the pool warm?"

"Well, I guess there's only one way to find out." Ben said as he ran towards the ledge near the water. He then jumped up into the air and performed a cannonball straight into the pool. In a few seconds, he was reunited with the surface to see Kate standing by the edge and looking at him. "Alright, it's a little cold." He told her.

"I have to jump in sooner or later anyway." Kate said confidently. She took a few small steps back and ran straight for the pool, jumping into the water as well. "This is a little cold? It's freezing!" Kate said as she kept herself afloat.

"It's not so bad. You just have to move around and then you'll get used to it." He said as he began to stroke towards her.

The two of them were such great swimmers that they practically looked majestic swimming near each other. They clearly seemed to be extremely content with having the entire pool to themselves. As they continued to swim together for quite some time, Ben and Kate both got out of the water and sat along the edge of the pool with their feet still in the water.

"That was actually pretty fun. Tonight, in general, was fun." Kate said.

"Yeah, it was." Ben replied while staring out into the moonlight.

"Hey, Ben? Are you okay? You seemed kind of distant at one point tonight." She asked with concern in her face. "Did you have fun at the fair?"

"I did, it's just that..." Ben took a deep breath before delivering what he was going to say next. He placed his hand right on top of Kate's hand just before he spoke again. "Kate, I want this. What we have together. I want it to last forever. All I want to know is if you want the same." He said.

Kate was completely awestruck by Ben's words of affection. She herself felt a very similar way about Ben but there was always a voice in the back of her head telling her that she wasn't good enough for him. But could she really tell Ben that she felt the same way about him when she would probably never see him after this semester. There were so many emotions going through her head that she pulled her hand away from Ben's and looked down at the water.

"Ben?" She said with hesitation in her voice.

"Oh, shit. I'm sorry, Kate. I should have known about your abstinence. I wasn't trying to force you into doing something you were uncomfortable with." He tried to explain.

"No, it's not that. It's just..." Kate sighed in frustration before stating what was next to come out of her mouth. "I like you Ben. I really do. You've done so much to make me feel happy and because of that, I feel the same way about you. But I'm just not sure if I can do this. For all I know, I might be at a completely different school next semester. And for as long as I can remember, my parents never allowed me to have a boyfriend. I don't know how they would react if they found out that you and I were... you know."

"Dating?" Ben said.

"Right. Ben, please don't take this wrong way. I'm not trying to make it sound like I'm saying no or rejecting you, but I just don't want to hurt you if I don't come back." She explained.

"Yeah, I understand." He said sounding sad.

"I'm starting to get a little cold. Do you think we could head back to the dorms now?" She asked.

"Yeah, sure. I'll go change and meet you outside. Don't forget to grab one of the towels." He reminded her.

"Thanks, Ben." Kate replied as she smiled at him.

* * *

About twenty minutes later, Ben and Kate had now found themselves in front of the dorm building. Just before the two of them went their own separate ways, they both faced each other to say their final goodbyes for the night.

"Thanks again for everything, Ben. I had a great time. And about what I said back at the pool, I think that I just need some time to think about all of this, that's all. I was wondering if maybe tomorrow after school, we could sit down together and talk about things. You know, so we can figure out where to take things from here." She suggested.

"Of course, Kate. Anything for you. Have a good night." He said as he stepped up and hugged her.

"You too." She said as she hugged him back. Ben let her go inside first and waited a few minutes to head back to his own room.

Now inside his room, Ben had shut his door behind him.

'What the  _fuck_  was I thinking? I knew it was stupid to tell her how I felt about her. I'm probably never going to see her again just because she made one mistake that she wasn't even in control of. I got my hopes up over nothing.' He thought. What he really needed right now was to listen to some music to forget about what Kate had told him and hopefully, he would fall into a deep sleep. He grabbed one of the many records off the shelf and placed it into his turntable. He then kicked off his shoes and plopped down onto his bed, now lying down. The song that began playing was  _I Ran_  by  _A Flock of Seagulls_. Ben stared at the ceiling of his room while the opening melody of the song played. Then as the lyrics were being sang, the song made him think about how crazy things were becoming at Blackwell ever since he met Kate. He didn't even know her at the start of the semester but somehow, he just happened to find himself entering her life. And surely, being attracted to her and developing strong feelings for her had its consequences for him. Like the fact he was basically avoiding his fellow friends in the Vortex Club and on bad terms with some of them. Or that he was making enemies with elites like the Prescotts. No matter what predicament he was in, he could care less, so long as Kate was happy like she deserved to be. He then started to sing along to the lyrics of the song as he closed his eyes and began to drift away to sleep just before softly singing to himself,

_I just ran_

_I ran all night and day_

_I couldn't get away_

* * *

The early morning sunlight managed to sneak its way through the bedroom window of Nathan Prescott, who did a careless job at shutting his blinds. He could hear the obnoxious blaring noise of his digital alarm clock being made as it rested on his nightstand, right next to his him. It only did nothing but aggravate him. Turning over on the other side, he took the expensive wireless clock and chucked it across his room as far as he could, which placed a dent into his wall and broke into several fragments as it hit the floor. He knew that this was now the seventh time his alarm went off after repeatedly hitting the snooze button. It was another reminder that he lacked any desire to go to Blackwell today or anymore at all.

After years of being bullied by both students who held personal vendettas against him, and the adults in his life like his own father, Nathan finally felt that he got a break from it all in his final year at Blackwell. He felt more than lucky to have been made president of the Vortex Club and planned to make some big changes. He took advantage of his family's wealth to buy more friends and throw wild parties that the Vortex Club was now known for. And once he gained the popularity that he so much yearned for as a freshman, he abused his status to become a bully and attack students he felt were beneath him. Max, Warren, and especially Kate were just some to name a few. But this life was just a way for him to hide his true emotional pain that was inflicted from the bullies in his life.

But to Nathan, his life only began to spiral out of control because of one person. Ben Ferris, Blackwell Academy's number one sellout, in the eyes of Nathan. The fact that Ben, someone that he considered a friend and took the initiative to let into the Vortex Club, could just turn on him one week and then beat him to a bloody pulp the next, was enough to leave him hurting. And what fueled Nathan's rage even more was how Ben always felt that the actions he made against him were justified. He wanted to do something about it, but he was just losing more motivation each day as Ben was gaining more and more popularity among Blackwell's students and faculty. More so, was the way how Ben thought so highly of Kate. It only drove him crazy how his former best friend could treat such a repulsive Jesus-freak as if she was a princess. But thinking about all this wasn't good for him. It only added to the current pressure that was being put on him by his father, who unwillingly let him back into the Prescott residence after he was banned from the dormitory on Blackwell's campus, which barred their family's name.

He was still wearing the same clothes he wore to the fair last night, his red bomber jacket and white dress shirt with black chinos and brown loafers. His light brown hair was a mess after a night of tossing and turning in his bed. As he walked down a set of stairs in his family's house, he tried processing what happened the night before. Being embarrassed by the two girls, then confronting that douchebag Ben and seeing that pious bitch, Kate, follow him around like a stupid lost puppy, just before being humiliated in front of them by his own father. As he finally made his way downstairs, he then entered his kitchen to fix up something to eat. He searched through the cabinet trying to find something to sate his appetite. The cabinet contained several small orange bottles which contained most of his medication. The fact that those bottles were still practically full showed that he wasn't taking those meds like his psychiatrist advised him. As Nathan then grabbed a box of pop tarts and prepared to place them in the toaster, he was greeted by the last person he wanted to see right now.

"You overslept." Nathan's father deadpanned as he stated the obvious to his son. He sat across the kitchen at a table while having a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. "I trust you know that you're late for school today." He added while still looking at the paper.

"I know. I'm sorry." Nathan replied with a hint of remorse in his voice.

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to yourself, Nathan. I'm just about tired of you asking me for my forgiveness." His father stated in an annoyed tone. "Have you read the paper yet?" He asked.

Nathan was completely puzzled as to why his father was asking him this question. No eighteen-year-old ever read the newspaper except for maybe the Blackwell Totem. Most kids usually got their news feed from watching the news or going on social media these days "No, I haven't. Why?" Nathan sulked.

Because your school's Drama teacher, Sarah O'Dea, released the names of the full cast for the Spring Musical. And do you have any idea who was given the lead role.?" He asked in a serious tone.

Nathan had a pretty good guess of who it could have been. The person who he knew besides Rachel Amber that wanted to pursue a life of acting more than anyone else. But to say or hear his name right now was enough to make him wince.

"Benjamin Ferris." His father spat out in disgust. "This is the fourth time this month I've seen that boy's name in the paper." He said in annoyance regarding Ben and disappointment towards Nathan. "Ben Ferris leads Bigfoots in 4-0 season. Ben Ferris saves fellow classmate from attempting suicide. Ben Ferris organizes rally for said classmate. How many times do you think I've seen your name in the paper?" His father yelled as he stood up from his table with his newspaper in his hand.

"Coach Ferris is laughing behind my back every day, knowing that he has a son that isn't a complete embarrassment to him. What have you even done this year besides throw wild parties and get in trouble for various allegations?" He barked at his own son, who just stared down at the kitchen floor. "It's no wonder that your mother left me all those years ago. She didn't want to bear the Prescott family name anymore all because of you. You finally came of age, yet you still manage to be a disappointment..."

"It's not my fault!" Nathan shouted back in defense. His father was shocked by what his own son had just said to him, while Nathan had the biggest "oh shit!" look on his face.

"What did you say to me?" Sean Prescott asked while gritting his teeth.

"I said it's not my fault." Nathan replied in a shakier voice. His act of defiance against his father's verbal abuse didn't help him at all as his father smacked him across the face with the thick rolled up newspaper.

"So then who's fault is it then? Because it most certainly isn't mine." He yelled as he smacked his son again. "Who?!" He shouted.

"It's mine." He sniffed.

"I can't hear you, boy!" His father said in a stern voice.

"I said it's all my fault." Nathan cried in anguish. He felt defeated once again and dropped to his own knees while weeping before the man he feared for so many years.

"You ungrateful little shit. I allow you back in my house after you get yourself kicked out of the dorm that bears our family name, and you have the gall to raise your voice at me." He said in disappointment as he walked to the doors of the kitchen. "If you ever speak out against me like that again, I will personally ship you off to a boarding school in England." He threatened before leaving the house. "I have to leave for work now. See yourself out immediately before you miss anymore of your classes." He told his son shortly before walking out the front door of their mansion.

Once Mr. Prescott was finally gone, Nathan shot up in a state of rage and screamed as loud as he could. With anger being the only emotion that he could express right now, he ran for the table his father previously sat at and flipped it over, with everything on top of it falling to the floor. He then grabbed the toaster that sat on the counter and chucked it across the room as it hit the sliding glass door leading to the patio, which left a crack. He wasn't done as he repeatedly punched one of the cabinet doors until there was a clear sign of damage on it. For as long as he could remember, he just wanted to be accepted by his own father. But how could that possibly happen when he was constantly being compared to someone he currently despised so much. Once his tantrum had ended, he felt nothing but exhaustion and slowly fell against the fridge. With his head in his hands. As he sat there he felt his phone go off in his jacket pocket, making him aware that he had just received a text. As checked the phone, he saw that the text was from an anonymous user. However, based on the text, this person sounded as if they were already acquainted with him.

**_Unknown:_ **

**_We're running out of time! He's continuing to spend more time with her and he could be close to finding out the truth at any moment. We need to deal with him tonight. Do you understand?_ **

Nathan didn't bother replying to the text as it only reminded him of public enemy number one.

"Ben! This is all Ben's fault! He did this to me! And now, he has to  _die_!" Nathan swore to himself.

* * *

As the school day at Blackwell was already over, students were out and about socializing together on campus or even taking part in daily activities. Others, however, were working steadily on preparing for the Homecoming dance. Each of the assigned groups were hard at work, especially Ben and Kate who were tracing the drawings and font for the banner.

Kate laid against the floor on her stomach, happily putting her drawings to the paper while swinging her legs in the air. Although she noticed during lunch, she didn't mention how Ben wasn't as talkative as he usually was. She tried to think of a way to bring him into a conversation.

"Hey, Ben?" Kate said as she looked over at him on the other side.

"What's up?" Ben replied as he worked steadily on tracing letters onto the banner.

"Could you hand me the yellow marker next to you, please? I need it to color Belle's dress." She asked while smiling at him.

"Yeah, here you go." He said as he rolled it over to her. She stopped it with her hand as it got closer to her and noticed that Ben had gone back to working on the banner once again.

"You seem a bit quiet than usual today." She perceived as she decided to speak up and say something. She hoped that it would spark a conversation between them.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah." Ben replied, as he was still distant from everything else.

'So much for an easy conversation, Kate.' She thought in her head. "You're still thinking about what I said last night aren't you?" She added.

"It's not that, Kate." Ben stated. It's just..."

"Ben!" Kate said with a pout on her face, knowing that she caught him in a lie. "I only said what I said because I care about you. And I don't want to hurt you if I never come back to Blackwell because of my parents' decision." She tried to explain.

"I know, but we could at least try to make it work if that does happen. I could drive up to visit you every weekend. And maybe I could even apply to the same Art School as you if they have a theatre program." He suggested to her.

"I appreciate what you're trying to do for me, Ben. But I'd still like for us to have that talk after this though. You know, to figure everything out." She said.

"Yeah, sure. We can do that." He replied.

"Wow, looking good you two." Someone who was towering over them said. Ben and Kate both looked up to see that it was Mr. Jefferson with a look on his face that showed how proud he was of their progress. "I've gotta say, you two make quite the dynamic duo together."

"Oh, well thank you, Mr. Jefferson. As you can see, I'm the illustrator and Ben's the writer." Kate said as she took his statement as a compliment.

"I don't mean to interrupt your work, but do you think I could steal Ben just for a quick second?" He asked.

"Sure thing Mr. J. What do you need me for?" Ben asked with a curious look on his face.

"Actually, I think it's best if we talk out in the hall." Mr. Jefferson suggested as he turned his back and walked towards the gymnasium doors, signaling to Ben that he was to follow him.

"I'll be back." Ben said to Kate as he got up.

"Take your time. I'll still be here." Kate said as she looked up at him before she went back to her drawings.

Ben followed Jefferson and walked through the doors that brought them both into the highway.

"You wanted to talk to me about something?" Ben questioned

"As a matter of fact, I do. You're not in trouble, but I did want you to know that I've been beginning to express some deep concern for you as of lately, Ben."

"Concern? Concern about what?" Ben asked in a demanding tone.

"Ben, as an educator, it's my responsibility to be aware of what my students are getting into. And I've noticed that you and Kate have developed quite a fondness for each other." He said. As he pushed up his glasses.

"It's nothing like that, Mr. Jefferson. We're just good friends, that's all." Ben replied nonchalantly.

"Oh really? Well then perhaps you'd be okay with explaining to Principal Wells what you two were doing in the swimming pool past curfew last night." He stated with a pressed look on his face. "You should never lie to a teacher, Ben. Especially when he holds your independent study in his own hands."

"What do you want from me?" Ben asked in a calm voice. In actuality, the real question he wanted to ask was, ' _How the fuck do you know about that you stalker?_ '

"I'd like to know a bit more about last week's incident that involved you and Kate and Nathan last week." He replied with his arms crossed.

"I already told Principal Wells everything that happened, so why don't you ask him instead." Ben said in an annoyed tone. He turned around and began to walk back into the gym just before Jefferson grabbed ahold of his arm.

"Whoa, not so fast. You still haven't answered my question. When you gave Nathan that little beatdown, it seemed like you were almost trying to interrogate him from what I heard. What exactly were you trying to get out of him?" Jefferson questioned.

"The truth. Don't you think that Kate deserves to know what really happened to her the night she got drugged." He declared as he turned back to face him again.

"Sometimes the truth is more than you can handle, Ben. And besides, isn't Nathan's statement good enough. I doubt that Blackwell's most honored student would lie about helping out a fellow student who was heavily intoxicated."

"I believed Nathan the first time which was my mistake. We know he's hiding something from everything, and I'll find out eventually." He said just before he looked through the glass window of the gym.

"That's a shame to hear, Ben. After working with you on your independent study I was considering you for another line of work. An  _internship_  of sorts. However, it would require you and Nathan working together under my supervision. But something tells me that you wouldn't be a right fit for it anyway. Your attention's been elsewhere lately." He stated as he noticed that Ben had his eyes on Kate through the window of the gymnasium door.

"Take care, Ben." Mr. Jefferson said as he walked away.

"Mr. Jefferson, wait... what?" Ben spoke as he attempted to return his focus to the teacher, but as he looked down the hall, he noticed that he was already gone. It was strange how he had vanished just like that. But the things that Jefferson said to Ben didn't sit well with him. How exactly did he know about him and Kate last night? What exactly did that internship entail and why would he have to work with Nathan. There something about Mr. Jefferson's odd attitude towards Ben which made him want to know more, but all of a sudden...

"Is everything okay?" Kate asked as she poked her head out of the door.

"Yeah! At least I think." Ben replied in a confused tone. "What are you doing out here? I thought everyone was still working on Homecoming preparations."

"Dana just dismissed everyone since it's already been two hours now." Kate answered.

"Oh, right." He replied as he looked down at the floor.

"Ben, did something happen? You look like you just saw a ghost." Kate observed.

"To be honest, I don't know how I feel after that talk that Mr. Jefferson and I just had. There was something about him that rubbed me the wrong way." Ben admitted.

"What did he say to you?" Kate asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

Ben paused and took a short breath before disclosing to Kate what just happened between him and the photography teacher. "He told me that..."

"Hey, guys?" A voice interrupted. Ben and Kate both looked behind them to see that the person calling them was Max, who was also accompanied by Warren.

"What's up you two?" Ben replied.

"Not a whole lot. Listen do you think I could speak with Kate in private? It's just girl stuff, that's all." Max said coyly.

"Yeah, sure thing." Ben said while trying to figure out what Max was getting at.

"Hey Ben, while they're having their  _little talk_ , maybe you could help me out with this little chemistry experiment I've been working on." Warren suggested as he placed his hands-on Ben's shoulder's and tried to get him away from Kate and Max.

"Alright! I've got some time anyway. Just tell me what you need me to do."

"Sweet! You're the best, buddy." Warren said in an overly excited tone. Ben was curious why Warren needed his help and even more, what it was that Max needed to talk to Kate about so urgently. Ben was usually quite gullible, but he knew that there was something that Warren wasn't telling him. Especially when the two guys walked into Mr. Jefferson's classroom instead of Ms. Grant's science classroom right across the hall.

"Come on, Warren, cut the shit. What's going on and what are we doing in Jefferson's classroom right now."

"I know that I'm not being honest with you right now, but you have to see this for yourself." Warren said nervously.

"See what? What are you talking about, bro!" Ben demanded in a frustrated and confused tone.

"Whatever you do, just don't freak out, alright!" Warren tried to explain as he lead Ben to the computer in the back of the room. "So I was with Max when she was trying to print out some pictures on this computer and the first thing that we saw on the computer was this."

"What the..." Ben tried his best to find the last word to finish his question, but he couldn't. What he saw on the computer screen made every hair on his body stand straight.

Before Ben and Warren's very eyes, were a set of various images of girls at Blackwell. However, these photos were taken without their awareness or consent. They appeared to be candids of the young girls. Some that Ben just casually knew and barely spoke to but other that he was good friends with like Dana and Juliet. And as the two scrolled down, there was eventually Kate. The last person that Ben could even imagine being involved in all this. The first picture he saw of her was one that he could remember because he was also in it. It was the two of them sitting on the bench near the dormitory building, talking together.

"I know when that picture was taken." He mentioned to Warren.

"It gets worse, man." Warren said. He continued to scroll down which unveiled photos of Kate from last night when she had gone swimming with Ben, each one depicting her in her underwear.

"Who took these?" He asked angrily.

"Take a look at the thumb drive?" Warren said as he pointed to a red and white thumb drive. Ben saw it and immediately pulled it out of the computer's USB port, causing all of the photos to disappear from the computer screen. He then saw a name of the owner of the drive written in black sharpie which read  _Nathan P._

"That little shithead!" Ben said as he gritted his teeth.

"So, what are you about do to him?" Warren asked.

"I'll tell you what I'm about do. I'm gonna kick some dirt in his face. Warren, grab as many people as you can from our dorm and tell them to come to the front of the school. I'm about to give everyone something they've always wanted to see."

* * *

Right outside the front of Blackwell's main building was where the most recognizable members of the Vortex Club could be found, as they sat on the green and grassy lawn. Sitting in a circle, were Victoria, Taylor, Courtney, Zach, Logan, Hayden, and Nathan each conversing with each other. However, Nathan sat with his back towards everyone in the circle, not saying a single word to anyone. Victoria had noticed this and attempted to bring him into the discussion.

"You okay, Nate? You seem pretty quiet today?" Victoria asked concerningly.

"What? Oh, yeah! I'm fine. It's just... what's he doing here?" Nathan said in a frantic voice. The reason as to why he was so shook-up suddenly was that he saw Ben approaching the group's circle. Accompanying him was Warren, along with other guys from boys' dormitory floor floor such as Trevor, Justin, Luke, Daniel, and many more.

"Hey, Ben!" Taylor greeted happily.

"Ben, what's up?" Hayden asked in hazy tone, indicating that he was obviously stoned.

Ben didn't reply to any of the greetings, as he only had his sights set on Nathan.

"What the fuck are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at Bible Study with your new girlfriend?" Nathan spat out.

"Relax, Nathan. Ben's only here to say hi." Courtney stated.

Ben only ignored the insult that was directed towards him "Give me your bag." He demanded.

"What?" Nathan said.

"Never mind, I'll just take it myself." He said as he snatched the rich kid's messenger bag from the ground.

"That's not yours, Ferris. Give it back now." Nathan ordered as he got up and walked towards Ben. The only outcome was that Ben had knocked him right on his ass.

"Ben, what is your deal?" Victoria reacted angrily.

"Nothing really. It's just that Warren and I happened to stumble upon some of Nathan's photos on the computer since he left his flash drive in Mr. Jefferson's classroom. And we just thought that everybody else might want to check out his portfolio. This is an art school after all." Ben stated as he searched through the possessions in Nathan's bag. "What's this, Nate?" Ben teasingly as he fished out a white binder from the bag.

"What? I don't know what that is." Nathan claimed nervously.

"Really? So, you don't mind if we all take a look inside, then?" Ben said. And without even hesitating, he opened up the binder and started to flip through the first few pages until he found exactly what he was looking for. "Wow! Just when I was beginning to think you were weird enough for talking to yourself and locking yourself in your dorm room, this tops it off." Ben said in a not so surprised voice as he turned the open book towards the circle of Vortex Club members. Each of them were surprised to see the photos of girls who were unaware that they were being photographed as they went about their own business.

"Dude! That's just wrong." Logan said with a hint of disappointment as he shook his head at Nathan.

"That's not even the half of it. Check it out, Zach. Your girl made it in Prescott's pervy little yearbook too." Ben said as he flipped to the next page.

"What? Let me see." The quarterback said as he shot up from where he sat and went to see the contents of the book for himself. He was alarmed to find a picture of Juliet sitting by herself in the student parking lot. "Dude, what the fuck?!" He shouted angrily to Nathan in reaction to seeing photos of his girlfriend in the book as well.

"I don't understand! Nathan, this isn't like you at all." Courtney said in a shocked tone.

"That's what I thought too, Courtney. In fact, I wondered how long he was able to do this without any of us knowing. But I guess when you're nothing but a spineless little  _pervert_ , you can get away with anything." Ben said. "You mind telling me, why I found these on your flash drive today, Prescott?" Ben asked as he pulled a stack of printed out pictures from his pocket and threw them at Nathan's feet for him to see. The same pictures of Ben and Kate swimming at the pool together, with some that were more focused in on Kate.

In a panic, to try and clear things up, Nathan got up and tried to make his case. "Ferris, listen to me, man. I know it looks bad, but I didn't take those..."

"Oh, really? Then who did take them? Because I doubt it was Max." Ben shouted. "Are you obsessed with Kate or something, huh? Just like how you were so in love with Rachel Amber. I already know for a fact that your lying ass didn't take Kate to the hospital that night." He stated. Everyone was focusing on the confrontation going on right in front of them. "I bet you tried to fuck her when you had the chance, but then you changed your mind not because you knew it was the wrong to do, but because you probably just couldn't get your tiny little dick up that night."

"That's not what happened, Ben." Nathan tried to explain.

"So, then what really did happen that night? Tell it to my face. Because at this point, I didn't even care if it's true or not. I'm still going to kick the shit out you either way." Ben said as he towered over him. Nathan felt completely panicked and helpless as he saw a collection of shocked, angered, and disappointed faces all focused on him. Feeling so defeated, the only thing he could even do at this point was cry. It was this very moment that made him feel as if he was reliving his Freshman year at Blackwell all over again.

"Wow, I never knew that someone like Nathan Prescott was capable of showing a human emotion like sadness, let alone being able to shed tears." Ben joked, which got a couple of laughed from people, except from Victoria, who was silent.

"You know, Nate, I really just wanted to help you and be there for you with all of the stress that you said you were dealing with. But now, I will once and for all. By destroying your prized possession." Ben said.

"What?" Nathan questioned in confusion. He watched Ben dig into his bag only for him to pull out his camera.

"Nice camera, Nate! Was it a birthday present or an early graduation gift? Knowing you, you probably just had the money to blow as always. Ben teased as he tossed the thousand-dollar camera up in the air.

"No!" Nathan screamed as he tried to stop Ben only for Trevor and Zach to hold him down.

"It's been a while since I played little league guys. Let's see if I've still got it." Ben said as he cocked his hand behind his head and launched the camera away from him as it flew at rapid velocity and collided right into the statue of Jerimiah Blackwell. The camera shattered into several fragments just before they fell into the fountain.

"Nice, wind up, Ferris!" Logan cheered as he laughed.

"Ferris you fucking dick!" Nathan shouted as he broke free and charged right at Ben, only for Ben to deliver uppercut straight to his gut. Nathan had fallen to his knees trying to gasp for air while tightly clutching his stomach.

Ben only looked down at him with disgust before giving him a threatening warning. "Do yourself a favor, Nathan and leave Arcadia Bay for good. Because if I ever see your face again I'll do everyone here at Blackwell a favor and..."

"Ben, I want you to stop right there." Someone shouted from behind him. It was a voice that Ben knew far too well at this point. All he had to do was turn around to correctly match the angered voice to a very disappointed face.

"Kate?" Ben said in a surprised tone. "I can explain..."

"You don't have to. I heard and saw everything that happened." Kate replied as she stood several feet away from Ben with her hands crossed. "I think you need some time alone to think about what you just did." She said as she walked away.

"Kate, hold on." Ben called out. But it was useless. She only ignored him as she distanced herself from Ben and the crowd of students.

"Everybody hates me. They all hate me." Ben heard Nathan whimper. He turned around to see that everyone else left to go their own separate ways now that the show was over, but Victoria stayed behind to comfort Nathan. Who was still on the ground.

"You know, you should probably go talk to her before she thinks you're even more of an asshole." Victoria suggested in a rude demeanor.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Sorry!" Ben said, realizing the damage he had just caused.

"Don't apologize to me, Ben. Apologize to yourself!" Victoria barked at him.

"Shit!" Ben thought to himself. There wasn't a lot of things in life that scared him. But wondering if Kate would forgive him after seeing how he had just acted was enough to make his skin crawl.

* * *

Hours had passed after the whole incident that occurred on the campus. The skies were finally dark, and most students were returning to their dorms after finishing their supper at the campus cafeteria. One of those students who happened to be walking back was Ben, who was by himself, and in a rush to get to the dorm. He was focusing more on trying not to drop or spill the plastic container of food and the contents of what was in the Styrofoam cup he was also carrying while passing by other students. That very cup was filled with hot tea and the container had a full dinner of what included roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and green beans. Though none of this was for Ben it was for someone else.

He rushed up to the second floor of the dormitory making his way right into the girls hall and passing the first few rooms until he made his way to Kate's.

Meanwhile, on the other side, of the door, Kate sat right at her desk in deep thought. She tried her best to process everything through her mind regarding what she had witnessed Ben do today. It didn't make since to her how someone who was so kind and caring towards her and always going out of their way to make her smile in the past few weeks, do something so hateful towards another person. No matter what Ben's motive was for doing what he did, Kate didn't want to believe that was the same boy who she was beginning to fall in love with.

She was then startled by the loud knock on her door, followed by the sound of Ben's voice.

"Hey, Kate? It's me. Can I come in?" He asked her, resulting in Kate to look at her door but hesitate to answer. "I brought you some food and tea from the cafeteria." He added.

"You can come in, Ben." Kate finally responded.

"Thanks." Ben said as he opened Kate's door, greeting her with a smile. "You weren't at the cafeteria for dinner tonight, and I wasn't really sure if you went to the Two Whales or ordered take out instead. So, I grabbed an extra helping of stuff just for you. I even got you your favorite tea, Chamomile." He said. Kate walked over to him to take the container and tea from him.

"Thank you, Ben." She said as she walked back over to her desk with them. Ben could tell by her body language that she wasn't okay.

"So, about today, I know what I did looked bad. But you came in at a pretty bad time and..."

"Ben! What you did to Nathan was uncalled for. You didn't have to do that."

"What?! Kate, that creep had tons of pictures of you and other girls that go here all over his flash drive and in that scrap book he made. Not to mention the fact that you were even half-naked in some of them."

"I know. Max, told me earlier today in the hallway. I only wish that you would have waited for me and then we could have reported him to Principal Wells before you ran off to do something so... so stupid like I saw you do today." Kate said with a bit of disappointment in her voice.

"Are you serious? I took the liberty of publicly shaming him just for you and everyone else here at Blackwell and all you're going to do is shake your head at me? A nice 'thank you' wouldn't hurt." Ben replied.

"Ben, I know that you wanted to try and protect me, but that wasn't the way. Sometimes, you have to learn to love your enemies and turn the other cheek." Kate mentioned.

"Well, I can't!" Ben yelled back.

"What do you mean?" Kate questioned in a fearful voice. This was only her reaction to hearing Ben raise his voice at her.

"I don't mean to sound like a pessimist Kate, but that doesn't always work.  _Turning the other cheek_  doesn't solve everyone's problems. It didn't stop my brother from committing suicide when those bullies made his life hell and it sure as shit didn't stop me from being abused and molested when I was just a kid. You just have to understand that life is cruel and nothing about it will change unless you actually do something yourself." He argued.

"Ben, other people have been through their own personal tragedies too. I know you've been through a lot in your life but it's not always about you."

"Really, because I could say the same thing to you about how these past few weeks went for you." Ben snapped back. He then wished that he hadn't said those words as he realized that Kate was now paralyzed and what he said had pierced her heart. "Kate, I didn't mean..."

"No, it's alright, Ben. I'm the one who should be sorry. I was such an idiot for falling in love with the one and only Ben Ferris and thinking that he actually loved me back."

"I..."

"Just go, Ben! I think this is the God's way of telling me we're just not meant to be together. We never were." She said with nothing but remorse in her voice.

"Okay, Kate." Ben said sadly. He knew that she was in no mood to hear his pleas for forgiveness. Not this time. The best thing to do was for him right now was to leave her room and go back to his own. He turned around and walked towards the door to Kate's room. As he opened the door and walked out, he took one last look at Kate, who had her back turned to him and looked out her window, and could hear her faintly crying to herself just before he closed the door. Knowing that curfew was fast approaching, Ben headed to the exit of the girls' dorm and made his way back to his room.

Ben knew that he was wrong to say what he said to Kate. He knew that everything she said was right, it was no different to the teachings of his grandmother, who was another devout Christian like Kate was. Right now, the only emotion that was going on in his head was fear. He was fearing the very future of his friendship with Kate, realizing that he may have just destroyed everything that they had recently developed with each other. He figured that instead of pondering on it, he would work on resolving things tomorrow morning by going back to her and giving her the apology that he very much owed her. But for now, he would head back to his room and sleep all his worries away if that was even possible for him to do. But just as Ben opened the door to his room, he noticed that his lights were already on, along with four unexpected and unwelcome guests sitting in the room.

"Long day huh, Ferris?" Nathan asked. He sat on top of the desk that was on the other side of Ben's room. "What happened, ran out of fun things to do with 'Sister Kate'?" He mocked.

"Get out of my room, now!" Ben demanded.

"I guess you're not looking for a roommate then. Well then you better tell that to these guys!" He said pointing to a group of three other guys that where in the room. One of them sat on Ben's bed, another on the couch in his room, and the other was leaning against Ben's wardrobe while holding a wooden baseball bat.

"Who are they, Nathan?" Ben asked as he quickly eyed each one of the other boys.

"Seriously? You don't know any of the guys on the baseball team. I thought all the jocks where supposed to know each other. But I'm not surprised. You traded that life to become a Drama loser anyway." Nathan said, which got some laughs from the three baseball players.

"What do you want?" Ben asked.

"What I want is for you to pay for a new camera after you thought you could just break mine. But we both know you don't have the money to pay for it anyway. I mean the reason you drive a shitty muscle car straight out of the '70s. is because you can't afford a real car like everyone else here." Nathan continued to mock. "So, since you can't buy me a new thousand dollar  _Kodak_  digital camera, I guess it's only fair to have these guys give you a long overdue ass-kicking."

And just like that the next thing Ben could see from his peripheral vision was a fist flying to the side of his face. He could feel the sharp blow of the punch being delivered straight to his cheekbone, causing him to lose his balance and fall over. But before he could hit the floor, he was caught by another one of the jocks who helped him on his feet and punched him right in the face. It wasn't long until he shook off the two punches and found himself being held tightly by the arms from two of the athletes. Ben was strong, but right now, he couldn't find the amount of strength to break free from such a tight grip.

"Hold him down, boys." Nathan instructed as he grabbed the baseball bat from the third player. "It's only fair if I get a couple hits in too." He briefly studied Ben, who was looking down at the floor and panting heavily, trying to his best to recover. "You're not the only one who's played little league, Ben. I've got a pretty good swing myself." He taunted as he held the bat tightly in both hands and swung it furiously across Ben's face. Ben was able to hear a cracking noise along with the sharp pain along the bridge of his nose. He couldn't tell yet but the bridge of his nose was already split open, with a trail of blood started to flow.

"Do you know how much it fucking hurt, Ferris?! When you walked away from the Vortex Club? From me?" Nathan shouted as he swung the bat again, this time hitting Ben in the temple. His skull had been fractured. "I was the first friend you had here, I made you popular. And then you threw me away for some frigid Jesus freak. You're nothing but a sellout." He taunted as he rammed the end of the bat forcefully into Ben's stomach making him fall to his knees. "What nothing to say now." Nathan taunted as he lifted the bat over his head and and swung it down on Ben's head as fast he could. Ben had been completely laid out on the floor and bleeding like crazy from his broken noise and any blood that he had spit out. It was far from over as he still felt the wooden bat impact against his body along with several punches and kicks from the three baseball players. Fighting dirty was one of the only things these four knew how to do. "Get the camera." Nathan ordered one of the jocks.

"I thought you said we we're gonna just rough him a bit. He looks real messed up right now and..."

"Just do it! I'm the one who's paying you to do this shit, remember?" He hissed back. One of the guys grabbed a video recording camera and handed it over to Nathan, while the other two jocks grabbed each of Ben's and helped up to his knees.

"Listen, Ben, this can all be over quick or we can make this much worse for you." Nathan said while focusing the camera on Ben's bruised and bloody face. Just admit to the camera that everything you said me, the gun, me dosing Kate, and taking the pictures of all those girls were all just a bunch of lies you made up just to make a name for yourself." He instructed Ben.

Ben was kneeling against the floor of his room as he heard that exact order from Nathan. Knowing that he couldn't bring himself to that for the sake of one person on he truly cared about at Blackwell, he had another option that came to his mind. He looked at Nathan and his cronies that were all in front of him and then turned his head looking at the only open window in his room.

"Say it!" Nathan shouted in frustration as he angrily kicked Ben in his face, knocking him down.

Using the amount of strength, he had left in himself after the beat down he received, Ben had feebly stood up on both legs and stated at the four guys in his room and faintly said, "Fuck... you... Prescott." And in the blink of an eye, he threw himself out the window, shocking the four who watched him.

"Oh shit!" One of the jocks shouted in shock to seeing Ben fling himself like that.

"Oh man! Fuck this, Nate! I'm outta here." Another jock said in fear, thinking that Ben had probably just killed himself after pulling off a stunt like that. Everyone all ran out of the room except Nathan, who walked towards the window and looked out to see if there was any sign of Ben.

* * *

Ben opened his eyes to see that he was laying against the ground right outside of the dorm building. His room was on the first floor, so it wasn't that big of a jump from his window. Still, it wasn't a soft landing and he fell face first against the pavement, splitting his head open. Feeling too weak to get up and run for help, let alone walk, he dragged himself onto the grass lawn with the lamp posts shining on him. Knowing that he wouldn't get very far in the state he was currently in, he used every inch of his breath to crawl towards the bench. It was the same bench that he and Kate sat at together and talked with each other just last week. As he finally made it to the bench he, lifted himself up and rested his tired and broken body on the planks of the bench. For once he felt that he had been beaten, not by Nathan Prescott, but by life itself. As he looked out in the distance, he could see a tall silhouetted figure slowly walking towards him. As the figure got closer to him, he could see someone he knew too well. Someone he least expected to see. It was his brother, and he looked exactly the same as he did before that fateful night he called Ben and took his own life.

"Ronnie?" Ben questioned while sounding surprised.

"Hey, little brother." He said. "I'm sorry I left you. I never realized how much you really needed me after Mom and Dad split. But right now, Kate needs you more than anything. So, you have to get up." He told him.

"No. Kate doesn't need me. I pushed her away and now she hates me. I don't deserve her." Ben lamented talking to his brother. "Right now, I just want all this to end so I can be with you." He said.

Before Ben began to slowly shut his eyes, he saw his brother disappear and the shadowy figure reappear and begin to close on him. As he shut his eyes and finally lost consciousness. His body was slowly lifted from the bench by whoever the individual was. Whoever this person was though, his or her intentions for Ben couldn't be good.

* * *

It was already the next morning, and Kate sat in her room as she tried her best to play  _Bach's Partita No. 2_  on the violin. However, she found herself pausing frequently as she couldn't stop thinking about the argument between her and Ben last night.

' _He couldn't have meant those things that he said to me, could he? I know how he feels about me, but I think he was just being too overprotective_.' Kate thought to herself.

A knock on Kate's door could be heard along with the voice of Max. "Kate? Did you want to grab breakfast before class?" She asked from the other side.

"Sure thing, Max." Kate replied. She placed her violin and bow back into its case before she got up from her chair and opened her door to greet Max. She was also surprised to see that Chloe was with her as well.

"Good morning, Max! Good morning Chloe." She said with a faint smile on her face.

"You alright, girl? You look hella upset about something." Chloe stated as she picked up on Kate's facial expression.

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just that Ben and I had a bit of a disagreement last night, that's all." She tried to explain.

"That's putting it lightly. I spent the night at Max's room and we could hear him shouting at you from down the hall. What exactly did he say to you, Kate? If he lost his shit and hit you, I swear I'll..."

"Chloe!" Max jumped in. "Maybe you should just let Kate explain.

"It's like I said, we just had a disagreement. Are we still going to get breakfast together?" Kate said.

"You bet! Two Whales here we come." Chloe said with excitement as she was first to start walking towards the exit.

"Actually... do you think that we could stop at Ben's room first? You know, just to check up on him." Kate said timidly.

"If you want to, I guess." Chloe said. "Just so you know, I tried texting him last night to see if he was okay and he hasn't replied back at all."

"That doesn't sound like Ben at all." Max said.

Kate said nothing at all as hearing that made her feel nervous about Ben's whereabouts.

A couple minutes later, the three of them were now on the boys' floor, passing by some of the boys who were heading to the bathroom to get ready. Kate, Max, and Chloe now found their selves in front of the door to Ben's room. Kate knocked on the door very feebly to see if she would hear Ben's voice on the other side. However, there was no response.

"Ben? Are you in there?" Kate asked. "It's Kate." She then said. "Can I come in?"

"We might as well just barge in to wake him up at this point." Chloe insisted.

"Okay." Kate thought as she slowly turned the door knob and pushed the door open, hoping that Ben was at least dressed if he was awake.

When Kate opened the door, she, Max, and Chloe were welcomed to an unoccupied room with a total mess.

"Shit! He must have been hella pissed to have torn this place apart." Chloe commented as she analyzed the room.

Max and Kate had both looked around to see a chair knocked over and some of Ben's personal belongings scattered across the floor along with the window being open.

"Hey guys?" Max called out in a concerned voice, grabbing the attention of both Kate and Chloe. "Is it me, or does that look a lot like blood?" She questioned while pointing at a dried red stain on the carpet of Ben's floor.

"What? Max, that couldn't be." Kate doubted.

"I don't know, Kate. This all seems a bit sketchy. Ben didn't answer any of my calls, his room's completely trashed, and he just leaves the window wide open like that. It kind of makes you wonder if he was trying to get away from something."

"That's ridiculous, Chloe! Ben has nothing to run away from. And that stain can't be his own blood." Kate shouted.

"Kate just calm down." Max quickly intervened. "What Chloe's trying to say is…"

"Don't tell me to calm down, Max! I don't know if this is your way of trying to help me find out where Ben is, but if it is, it's not funny. He could be anywhere on campus and if neither of you are going to help me, then I'm going to find him myself." Kate said as she marched angrily out of Ben's room.

"Is she usually like this?" Chloe asked as she looked over to Max.

"No, but I can understand why." Max stated.

As she found herself back in the hallway, she found the starting quarterback, Zach Riggins, leaving his room in a bath towel to go use the shower.

"Hey, Zachary?" Kate questioned in a nervous tone. "Have you seen Ben?" She asked him.

"Not since yesterday when he taught Prescott a lesson. Um, no offense, but shouldn't you know he should be?" He replied while scratching the back of his head.

"Right. Thanks anyway though and have a nice day." She said as she continued down the hall. ' _Where could he be?_ ' She thought to herself.

* * *

Hours had passed to the point where Kate now found herself in class. She was on edge as she constantly worried about where Ben could be and why he hadn't even responded to any of Chloe's texts like she mentioned.

' _I know it might not work, but maybe he'll try picking up if he answers me._ ' She thought to herself. She tried to discreetly pull her phone out of her red handbag, until the sound of the school's intercom alerted everyone. "Please pardon this interruption but will Kate Marsh please report to Principal Wells' office immediately."

"Kate's in trouble?" A student questioned, followed by several other classmates chatting with each other behind Kate's back, wondering what exactly the church girl did.

"Please settle down class." The teacher ordered. "Kate, I think you should probably go see the Principal now. She told Kate.

Kate got up from her desk and grabbed her belongings to leave the class and see what she was needed for. As she walked down the hall she saw Nathan Prescott from the other end walking in her direction.

"Oh, its you?" Nathan sneered as he stopped in front. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I'm here to see Principal Wells like he asked." Kate said confidently. She wasn't trying to show any weakness as seeing him again remined her of that night she was confronted by him in the hallway of the boys' dorm.

"Have fun with that shit." He replied as he brushed past her and began to head toward the main hallway.

"Nathan?" Kate asked in a nervous tone.

"What?" He replied in an annoyed tone.

"Do you know where Ben is? I haven't seen him all day and I'm worried about him." She confided in the rich kid who was also a bully to her and other students at Blackwell.

"Don't know, don't care." He said bluntly. "Maybe being captain of the football team and landing the lead role in the school musical, he figured he was too big for this school and decided to leave this place along with everyone here." He answered. Or maybe you killed him." He added with a curious smirk on his face.

"What?" Kate said as she sounded shocked by hearing such a wild accusation.

"Oh, yeah! I was next door in Victoria's room when I heard you two fighting last night. I bet you probably performed some kind of sacrificial ritual on Ben as part of your Jesus cult." He said.

"That's not..."

"Tell me something, Katie. Before you got rid of his body, did you at any point... you know get sexy with it all? You probably didn't even have to worry about violating your abstinence pledge. It doesn't count if it's a dead body you know." Nathan taunted.

"Do we have a problem here?" The voice of a female teacher called out. Both Kate and Nathan looked to the end of the hall to see that Ms. O'Dea was standing roughly ten feet away from the two.

"Not at all, Sarah. I was just trying to bury the hatchet with Kate and let bygones be bygones." He explained.

"You can drop the act, Prescott. You may have all the other faculty here at Blackwell fooled, but not me." She stated. "Now, if I heard correctly on the intercom, then I'm certain that Principal Wells wanted to speak with Kate. Not you! So, I advise you to drag your backside back to class before I report you to the Principal for skipping class for the seventh time this semester."

"You can do that if you want to. But then again, my Dad can always cut the funding for Blackwell's Arts program, just in time before the Drama Club starts preparing for  _Little Shop of Horrors_." Nathan threatened with his usual smug look on his face to signify he was going to have his way.

"Please, Mr. Prescott. Let's just go our own separate ways before either of us says something else we might regret." Sarah said with a frustrated sigh. "Are you alright, Kate?" She asked, now turning her attention towards Kate.

"I think so. To be honest, I'd feel a whole lot better if I knew that Ben was okay." She admitted.

"I'm worried about Ben's whereabouts too." Sara confessed as she placed a hand on Kate's shoulder and walked down the hallway with her. "I've heard that he has the reputation of a partier from some students, but truancy just doesn't sound like Ben at all. And besides, I'm concerned that he's going to miss the first rehearsal for the musical. He must be happy to know that he's been cast as Seymour."

"I just hope he'll come back soon." Kate mentioned.

"I'm sure he will, Kate. This looks like your stop." She said as the two young women found their selves at the door to Principal Wells' office. "By the way, Kate, I've seen some of your drawings and I think you should consider helping with making some of the backdrops for the school production."

"Oh, well thank you Ms. O'Dea." Kate said.

"Please, Kate. Call me Sarah." Sarah said in warm voice before she left.

Kate opened the door to the office to Principal Wells sitting in his desk, also accompanied by David Madsen and a police officer.

"Good afternoon, Miss Marsh. Please, take a seat." Principal Wells said in reaction to Kate's entrance.

"Okay." She said timidly as she walked towards the chair in front of his desk.

"Kate, I understand that you and Mr. Ferris are quite close with each other here at Blackwell. Correct?" He questioned as Kate sat down.

"Well, yes. But we're only just friends. Does this have something to do about what Ben did?" She stated.

"Not exactly. That's another matter entirely. We've noticed that Ben hasn't reported to any of his classes today. And Mr. Madsen had also noticed something unusual last night."

"That's right. When one of the other security guards was making his rounds on campus last night. He noticed that the lights were still on in Ben's room past curfew along with his window left wide open. He said there was no sign of Ben when he stopped by the room to check in on him. So, my only conclusion is that Ben snuck out of the dorm and left the campus." David theorized.

"And even if Ben has decided to play hooky, I am taking the initiative to find him in a swift manner so that we can prevent another student disappearance like last year." Wells explained.

"Do you mean like with Rachel Amber?" Kate mentioned.

"Yes. How did you know about that?" He questioned.

"I saw some of those missing posters with her face on them that were put up across the campus."

"Right. Anyway, as you can see, I've asked officer Barry to come here so that he can investigate the matter as well. In fact, the reason I had asked you into my office was to see if you could provide him with any information on Ben's possible whereabouts."

"That's right. Is there anywhere in Arcadia Bay that you think Ben might have ran off to, Kate?" Officer Barry asked. "Even the slightest details you can tell me might be able to help us find him."

Kate tried her best to think of anywhere Ben could be. The Two Whales, downtown Arcadia Bay, his own house. No of those seemed even remotely significant to her.

"No, I'm not sure where he could be. I'm sorry." Kate said in an ashamed tone.

"No, that's alright. Thanks for your time anyway." He replied.

"Thank you, Ms. Marsh. We'll be working very hard to find out where Ben is. You may return to your class now." Wells said.

"We should call down the next student. Ferris has got a lot of friends and one of them has to know something about where he went." David suggested.

"Of course." He replied as he pressed the button to a microphone to activate the school intercom once again. "Will Zachary Riggins please report to my office at this time." He said. Meanwhile Kate left the office, feeling nothing but regret for telling Ben to leave her room last night. If things between them last night didn't end on such a bad note, there might have been a chance that she would know exactly where he was by now. But right now, all she needed was time to be alone and think.

* * *

**Kate Diary Entry, October 24** **th**

This all feels like a bad dream. I found out today that Ben left Blackwell without even telling anyone, including me. I've tried calling him a few times after school, but he hasn't answered at all. I don't know why he would do something like this. I know that he's been under a lot of stress lately. Maybe it has something to do with him and his dad. I don't think he likes me very much and the fact that he sees Ben spending most of his time with me probably bothers him. Then again, Ben and Nathan were best friends at the start of the school year and now every time they see each other in the same area, things turn into World War III. I still couldn't believe that Ben would do something so nasty like smashing his camera for everyone to see.

Or What if this has to do with me. Ben and I got into an argument and I turned him away after what he said to me. I hate myself for doing that. I knew that he was only trying to protect me and that he had gone through so much at such a young age. I could have just hugged him and let him know that it would all be alright. But I didn't. I always talk about believing in forgiveness and redemption for others, but I'm just a hypocrite. I know that my parents would be disappointed in me if I they knew the decision that I made. I can see why Ben hasn't answered any of my calls now. I'm probably just one of the last few people he would want to talk to right now and he has every reason to hate me.

Kate wanted to wrap up her most recent entry, but she came to a halt after seeing two droplets of water land on the current page of her diary. These were tears that symbolized the very pain of loneliness that she was experiencing right now.

She was sitting on the bench outside near the dorms, facing the bushes and having her back turned to everybody else. It was weird to think that just last week, she and Ben were sitting here together, just innocently chatting and getting to know each other better. And now, he was gone.

"Hey, Kate." A voice called from behind. Kate wiped away her tears before turning her head to see who the person was that called her. It was Victoria Chase.

"Oh, hi Victoria." Kate replied in a monotone voice.

"Listen, I just came by to say that I'm sorry about what happened the other night."

"The other night? What are you talking about?" Kate questioned looking back up at Victoria.

"At the fair. I was really drunk, and Taylor and Courtney told me that I was all over Ben, trying to steal him from you and getting him to be my date to Homecoming. It was wrong of me to do that and I hope I wasn't the reason you were two were arguing in your room last night.

"Oh no, it didn't have to do with that. It was just that..."

"It's okay you don't have to tell me all the details." She stated. "I just hope wherever Ben is, he'll come back to you soon."

"Thanks, Victoria." Kate stated as she watched her walk away.

"Kate!" Max called from the other side of the grass lawn. She ran over to Kate and was accompanied by Chloe.

"Max! Chloe!" Kate cried out in relief. "I'm so sorry about how I reacted this morning. That's not who I am at all. It's just that I'm worried about Ben."

"Relax, we know!" Chloe said reassuringly.

"I just got back from seeing Principal Wells in his office. He said that no one's seen Ben all day and they've been asking every student that he's friends with if they know where he could be. David and Officer Barry where there too."

"I know. They asked me this afternoon if I knew where he could be. I wanted to help them so that they could find him, but I couldn't think of anywhere he could be. Any place here in Arcadia Bay that's special to him... wait!" She finished her sentence as an idea went off in her head.

"Wait, what?" Chloe asked, picking up on what Kate was thinking.

"Earlier this week, Ben took me to the boardwalk by the beach. He said that it was where he would always go if he needed to get away from Blackwell if he was ever having a bad day." Kate explained. "What if he's there you guys?"

"Shit, that's a pretty good guess, Kate. You might be on to something. What do you say us girls go for a ride and find 'Ferris Buller' on his day off."

"'Ferris Bueller'?" Kate repeated in confusion.

"Yeah, it's just a little nickname that I gave Ben a while back when I first met him. I'll tell you the full story of how I gave him the name on our way to the beach." Chloe explained.

* * *

The three girls rode in Chloe's rusted pickup truck, speeding down the street, with Chloe on the wheel, Kate sitting in the passenger seat, and Max in between the two of them. Kate stared out the window, observing the tall trees and the sky's sunset. She felt anxious at the same time to get to the boardwalk and find Ben before they were too late and he went somewhere else. In just a couple of right and left turns and traffic lights, they had finally arrived to their desired destination and pulled into an empty parking spot.

"Alright. If Ben's here, then he can't be far away." Chloe said.

"Follow me, it's this way down those stairs." Kate said as she opened the door and flew down the set of stairs to her right. As she made it down to the end of the stairs and found her self at the boardwalk, she was hit with the feeling of shock to see that it was completely abandoned. And that very same spot where she and Ben stood and shared their first intimate moment, was vacant as well. She had never felt so weak, that she fell to her knees and cried in pain.

"Kate!" Max called out as she and Chloe made it down the stairs, to which they both saw Kate kneeling on the boardwalk floor sobbing.

"Kate, what happened?" Max questioned.

"It's Ben, Max. He's... he's really gone." She wept.

"I'm so sorry Kate." Max replied as she knelt to comfort her best friend.

"I never even had the chance to tell him... how I really felt about him." She said remorsefully as she continued to sob.

"Damn." Chloe said to herself as she stood behind the two girls and watched them embrace. She began to fight back a couple of her own tears. Ben was indeed a good friend to her after her dad, William died and Max left her. She felt hurt as she now realized that she had lost him along with Rachel.

* * *

In the bright room that was mostly all white, Ben was completely unconscious as he sat in a chair with his wrists and ankles strapped down. He wore a burlap sac over his head to prevent him from seeing where exactly he was.

"I think it's about time we woke him up." A voice said. Someone had walked over to remove the sack from his face. When they did, they had revealed Ben face, which still badly damaged from the scuffle he had previously gotten into. He looked around to see that he was in a brightly lit room filled with photography equipment. When he looked in front of him, he felt uneasy after seeing who he was in the presence of.

"Mr. Jefferson?" Ben said in an alarmed but weary voice. "What's going on? Where am I?"

"Oh, Ben. You're exactly where I want you to be." Mr. Jefferson replied calmly with a smile. "You're in my Dark Room."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Soooo yeah! I left you guys with another cliffhanger (don't hate me), but I'm not planning on making this a habit. I'm planning on getting the next chapter up very soon. There might have been some questions that this chapter left you with and don't worry, they'll all be answered in the next chapter, including Ben's fate. Get hyped y'all cause we're finally going to the Dark Room (Unless the Dark Room scares you, then be afraid). In other news, i wanted to share with everyone my plans on FF and AO3 after Polar Opposites is finished. I'm planning on writing maybe one more LiS fic which instead revolves around all the of the LiS characters. Aside from that I'm going try to write more stories on some of my other favorite games. I have a long term goal to try and have all of my stories connected to each other, but I can't say too much right now. As always make sure that you guys leave a comment because feedback, feedback, feedback is so important to a writer. And be sure to follow and favorite if you haven't. Until next time everybody!


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